


The Ranger, Part 5: A Matter of Salvation

by Treadstone17



Series: The Ranger [5]
Category: Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:22:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26003365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treadstone17/pseuds/Treadstone17
Summary: The Alpha Quadrant is on the brink of war, after a Federation Diplomat is assassinated on the planet Fenris. Admiral Alynna Necheyav is trying to use leverage against Fenris and the Fenris Rangers to force Seven of Nine to surrender to her.However, a new variable has been injected into the crisis, as the Klingon Empire, under Chancellor Worf, has warned The Federation against attacking Fenris.Closer to Earth, Seven of Nine, and some of her former Voyager crew mates are searching for a suspected XB prison.
Relationships: Kathryn Janeway/Seven of Nine
Series: The Ranger [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667197
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

Star Trek: The Ranger

A Measure of Salvation

Treadstone17

I

**Jean-Luc Picard was at his Vineyard** in France, simply trying to touch base with his native land and the property which had been in his family for generations. He had been through much since the last time he had visited. To this day, he felt a profound sadness when he visited, remembering the deaths of his brother Robert and his nephew Renee from a fire so many years earlier. Coming back, he felt close to both of them, which was of some comfort.

“Ah, Robert”, he said, sipping a one-hundred-fifty year old Pinot Noir, “I wonder what you think of what I have become, literally.” He raised his glass in memory of his older brother.

This was the first time Picard had truly been able to relax since leaving Earth nine months ago, on a journey that had been hard to believe. He had met so many new people-people he had become close to-Rios, Agnes, Elnor, Soji, Seven. He had reunited with Raffi, after some bitter years of separation. And he had become involved in a situation that could very well mean the future of The Federation, and, indeed, the whole Quadrant.

Elnor and Soji, who had accompanied him to France, were visiting Paris at the moment. The two young people, both now in a world they hardly understood, had bonded, and were becoming very close. Picard didn't think too much about a possible romance between the two. His own history of love had been checkered, to say the least. He still missed Vash to t his day, and would always love Beverly, even if they were divorced. They still remained close.

Sitting behind the ornate home, surveying the rows and rows of grapes ripening as they had for centuries, Jean-Luc felt a rare sense of contentment at that moment. He could think of no more tranquil place than where he currently was.

The tranquility had to end, and it did. To his left, he felt a presence, and turned just in time to see Will Riker being beamed onto the property.

“Will”, Picard said with delight. “Come to take more of my wine? You already have enough for two lifetimes.”

Riker laughed. “I wish it was for something that pleasant, Jean-Luc. I've got some news for you, hot off the presses. Although, if you don't mind, I'd love a drink of that wine.”

Picard rose and the two men went into the house, Picard taking the bottle, and pouring a second glass for his friend.

“What's this news, hot off the presses, Will?”

Riker put a PADD in front of him. “Read”, he said with a smile.

Picard looked over what was on the PADD, and with a stunned expression, looked back up at Riker.  
  
“ _Fils de pute”,_ he exclaimed in his native language.

Riker nodded, the smile no longer on his face. “That about sums it up, Jean-Luc.”

* * *

Admiral Alynna Necheyav had read the diplomatic message five times, and still could do no more than sit in stunned silence. The import of the message mean that, if The Federation did begin military action against Fenris, that it could now cause a war throughout the entire Quadrant, which was the last thing she wanted.

_"The Klingon Government has been watching with interest, and growing alarm, the deteriorating situation between The Federation and the planet Fenris. While still a neutral in this dispute, this government sees these developments as something that could have far-reaching consequences on The Klingon Empire, and the Alpha and Beta Quadrants._

_On the issue of former Borg drones, who have been liberated from The Collective, The Klingon Empire supports the rights of those individuals within the bounds of our societies, and believes they should have the same opportunities to fulfill their destinies as individuals, just as all of us would want._

_We cannot condone the actions of the former Borg, Seven of Nine, in the incidents on Freecloud, and in Cardassian and Ferengi space. But we condemn in the strongest terms the experiments and callous regard for life that has been shown to what are known as XB's._

_The Klingon Government also condemns the threat of force by The Federation against the government and the people of Fenris. The outbreak of hostilities between the two would be a direct threat to the security of The Klingon Empire._

_I offer the services of this government to mediate the current crisis, and hope that a peacerul solution can be found._

_Worf_

_Chancellor, Klingon High Council"_

* * *

“Goddammit”, Necheyav fumed. “Another Picard crony making my life miserable.”

She had called a meeting of her principles for that evening. On top of this development, San Francisco was still dealing with an outbreak of Lurian Flu. Necheyav, and most of her staff had received the vaccine, and had just finished up three days of quarantine. Sloan was going into be examined and given the vaccine that afternoon, so he would only attend by video conference.

Necheyav was no fool. She knew the entire situation had changed dramatically, with the Klingons sticking their noses in where they didn't belong. She was convinced, however, that she would have to take Chancellor Worf up on his offer. It still could help her get what she wanted, which was still the capture of Seven of Nine.

* * *

The _Phantom_ and the _Icheb I_ had finished their surveillance of Ganymede. That hadn't come up empty.

After studying the data, they had come to some sobering conclusions.

“As we were able to observe with sensors”, Seven began the summary, “we were able to ascertain that there were fifty-five XB's that responded. There were other life signs-human, Bajoran, and a few others, plus some life sings that were weak, and others that expired as we were doing our scan.”

“XB's that were dying, or about ready to die”, B'Elanna said coldly.

“Most likely, B'Elanna”, Seven said softly. “I don't believe there's any other XB's there, as no more responded to my subspace signal, but I'm not one-hundred percent sure of that.”

“It seems that there is approximately sixty individuals that are not XB's”, Tuvok observed. “That is a formidable force for the five of us to oppose.”

“It is”, Kathryn said grimly, knowing that this was a possibility. “We may have to beg for more help, but resources might get quite thin if things get worse on Fenris.”

“I will compose a subspace message to Admiral Jellico, informing him of our findings”, Tuvok offered. “Perhaps he can spare someone to help us.”

“We can continue to scout for weaknesses”, Tom added. “Plus I would think there has to be more of that facility below the surface.”

“It could be”, Janeway nodded. “But there's just no way to tell, at least not from the limited scans we were able to get of the facility itself. They're blocking a lot of data we could use, that much is certain.”

As they were discussing options, a message came in on subspace. Tuvok read it first.

“What is it, Tuvok?”

The Vulcan scanned his PADD, raising his eyebrows. “It's possible that we just acquired a very important ally in our cause.”

He transferred the information to all of them. They all looked at each other in stunned surprise.

Naturally, B'Elanna spoke. “The Klingons.”

* * *

Starfleet Medical

The Doctor had asked the computer to highlight anyone with the last name of Sloan who was now scheduled to come in for a Lurian Flu check. To his surprise, there was only one. He had been scheduled to see Ogawa, but when Sloan entered her office, The Doctor would be there, instead, advising the man that Ogawa was detained.

The full name on his file, which had come in by courier from Headquarters, and not via the database, was Robert Sloan. A first name was required. Before even meeting the man, that raised The Doctor's eyebrows, already being briefed on the man's former identity.

Sloan was in the office before The Doctor. The man was patiently waiting when a nurse came in to take his vitals.

“Mr. Sloan, Dr. Ogawa has been detained helping another patient. After I take your vitals, another doctor will be here to see you shortly.”

“Thank you, my dear”, he said cordially. There was no need to be smug like he was with Necheyav and others. After all, these people were there to keep him from becoming sick. He had read up on this particular flu. It was rarely fatal, but by all accounts if you got it, you'd feel like hell for a good week.

After the vitals were taken, it took about ten minutes for The Doctor to arrive. He didn't suddenly appear, since he had his original holo emitter. He simply came in through the door.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Sloan”, the EMH said with a professional air, knowing right away that this was the Sloan. There was no mistaking it. “I am the doctor that will be doing the tests on you today. It shouldn't take very long.”

Sloan looked at him throw narrow eyes. “You're the former EMH from _Voyager_?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “If I had a dime for every time someone says that-and they say it almost every time-and if I had any use for money-I'd be a billionaire by now.” He continued to prepare for his exam.

“Let's just get this over with, doctor. I have a meeting that I will be attending remotely later today.”

“I'm a doctor, not an appointment secretary, Mr. Sloan”, he said in his famous dead-pan manner. “As I said, this won't take too long. I will be running a tricorder over you, then for good measure, taking a small sample of blood, and in five minutes, I'll know if you have the virus.”

“Do I receive the vaccine no matter what?”

The Doctor nodded. “Yes, you do. It will keep you from getting this bug if you come in contact with someone else. Better safe than sorry, as they say.”

As the EMH had assured him, it took about five minutes to get the results.

“The bad news is, you have the virus in your system, Mr. Sloan. The good news is that you're asymptomatic, which means you're probably not going to get sick. As I indicated, I will administer the vaccine to you momentarily.”

Sloan gave an involuntary sigh. No one wanted to get a nasty strain of flu. He was no different.

What he had no clue of was the fact that when he was given the vaccine, The Doctor had also included in the hypospray a small group of nanoprobes into his bloodstream that would implant near his lung and act as a tracking device. There had been thought by Jellico to grab the man, but that was too risky. The nanoprobes couldn't be detected, and would give a constant monitor to the location of one Mr. Sloan. The device was able to be monitored on Jellico's computer at home.


	2. Chapter 2

II

Along The Federation-Cardassian DMZ

**The U.S.S** _ **Calgary**_ **, an older** _Galaxy Class_ starship had been patrolling the Cardassian De-Militarized Zone for the past four months. It was part of a small chain of Starfleet vessels that monitored the once-powerful Cardassian Union, to make sure it was following the treaty that ended the Dominion War, some twenty years earlier.

Cardassia was still a shell of what it used to be, but The Federation kept a close eye on their long-time enemy, who was still looking for ways to rebuild their empire. No one in the Alpha and Beta Quadrant wanted to see Cardassia re-emerge as a threat to the area.

It wasn't glamour duty, Captain Harry Kim thought, but it had the potential to be extremely important, if the Cardassians tried to make even a small incursion into Federation space. Kim had been the master of the vessel for the past two year, having experience as Captain on three other smaller ships before landing the _Calgary_. He had certainly made up for the lack of a promotion when in the Delta Quadrant so many years ago. He was now a highly-regarded, well-liked Captain.

He had been troubled by the reports about his old crew mate, Seven of Nine, and her rampage through the Quadrant, which had set off the latest tension within Federation space. He had had a crush on Seven when she first came aboard _Voyager_ , and they evolved into very good, and very close friends over the years.

Harry Kim certainly was no fan of Alynna Necheyav, even if she was his Boss. He had never forgiven her for how she had treated Captain Janeway after their return from the DQ, and, like many others, he was troubled by the drift of The Federation into something that it never should become. But he followed his orders, protecting The Federation at the DMZ, and doing his duty.

He was on The Bridge at the end of Alpha shift, ready to call it a day-although no Captain was ever off-duty. Kathryn Janeway had certainly taught him that. He was about to hand over the ship to Beta ship, when Operations alerted him.

“Incoming transmission from Admiral Patterson, Captain. It's marked for your eyes only.”

“Thank you Mr. Pruitt, I'll take it in my quarters.”

Harry left The Bridge after giving a brief rundown of the day to his First Officer, then retired to his quarters.

On his terminal, he pulled up the message. His eyes widened at what the message said. He hadn't even had a chance to have the replicator make him an iced tea when he headed back for The Bridge.

“Captain on The Bridge!”

“As you were”, he said quickly, everyone knowing he hated them coming to attention simply because he wandered onto The Bridge. He turned to his First Officer.

“Ms. Garcia, set a course for McKinley Station, Warp 7, we have new orders.”

“Aye Captain”, the younger woman said crisply. “Helm, new course 105, mark 221, Warp Seven to McKinley Station.”

“Aye, sir”, Helm responded, wheeling the ship around and heading back toward Earth.

Robin Garcia turned to her Captain. “What are our orders, Captain.”

He looked at her evenly. “For now, I can't discuss that. Orders from Admiral Patterson.”

The First Officer nodded, and resumed her seat at the Conn.

* * *

The _Phantom_ and the _Icheb I_ were now on the ground on Ganymede, well away from the facility they had discovered two days before. Tuvok had sent a message to Admiral Jellico after they had realized what they were up against if they were to storm the XB “prison”, to request assistance.

The reply had just come in, but it was from Admiral Patterson, not Admiral Jellico. It informed both ships that they were to head to McKinley Station, still under cloak, and prepare to beam aboard a Starfleet vessel that Patterson assured was loyal to their cause.

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with that”, Seven said honestly. No one could really blame her, but Kathryn pointed a few things out to Seven.

"Seven, I've known Mike Patterson for thirty years-hell, longer than that, since I was a kid, in fact. I trust him completely. Secondly, if Mike was working for Necheyav, he'd have found a way to get you back to Earth a long time ago, and that hasn't happened. I understand your...unease...but trust me on this?”

When Kathryn had snared Seven into her trap months ago, the former Borg wouldn't have trusted such a statement at all, even though when Seven thought about it, Kathryn had never given her reason not to trust her. But their relationship was no on much more solid ground.

Seven nodded. “I do trust you, Kathryn”, Seven said firmly. “I'm just...wary of anyone I haven't met before.”

“I understand, Seven. But the message says they want all of us there.”

“Yeah”, B'Elanna said, looking seriously at her friend, “and if anyone tries to mess with you, they'll have to go through us first, Blondie. Remember that.”

Seven smiled at the half-Klingon. “I'm glad you're on my side, B'Elanna. I really am.” That broke the tension for a moment.

“It does not say who we are meeting with”, Tuvok noted. “It could be for the protection of our ships, and the ship that we will be meeting?”

“You may be right, Tuvok”, Janeway added. “Thank God for these cloaks. I don't think we'd be welcomed with open arms on McKinley Station.”

Tom Paris looked at his former Captain hard. “You thinking we'll be beamed directly aboard the ship, aren't you?”

She nodded. “It makes sense. The message says we are not to dock, but to be in 'close proximity' to the Station on arrival. I think we're going to get some very exact coordinates to be at, once we arrive in the area.”

They made plans to leave for McKinley later that night, and take a slow ride toward the Starfleet maintenance complex.

* * *

Office Of The Federation President, San Francisco.

The Klingon Ambassador had been summoned to meet President Alexandria Fetisov in her office in the Federation Capitol Building. He had been summoned, as the diplomatic letter had stated, to “clarify” the recent statement by Chancellor Worf on the current situation between the Federation and the planet of Fenris.

Fetisov was a figurehead, and she knew it, but didn't mind. She still wielded plenty of power. The real power was Admiral Necheyav-or so Necheyav still thought. Sloan would wryly disagree with that assessment. As head of The Federation, she wanted to hear, firsthand, what the Klingon Ambassador had to say.

Necheyav would be present, as was fitting, since she had a Fleet at Fenris at the moment. Both women knew they would be able to gain insight into the Chancellor's thinking, especially with the current Ambassador to San Francisco.

“Ambassador Kurn”, Fetisov said, as both women rose out of their chairs, “welcome. It is good to see you again, even under such circumstances.”

“Thank you, Madam President”, the younger son of Mogh said formally. Kurn was not as refined as his older brother, the Chancellor, but Worf had sanded down some of Kurn's rougher edges since Worf had killed former Chancellor Gowron years earlier. Worf was, in some ways, almost part Human, having been raised by Human parents, and having served with Humans on the _Enterprise_ and aboard _Deep Space 9_. Kurn used to think that was a weakness of his older brother, but that thought had faded away years ago.

The former Fleet Commander in the Klingon Empire had grown to be an admirer, for many reasons, of Worf's former Captain, Jean-Luc Picard. Kurn would always be a Klingon through-and-through, but, like Worf, he had learned there was a time and a place for battle, and one of diplomacy. Together, they were slowly transforming the Klingon Empire into something less militaristic. The would never change what it meant to be a Klingon, but as Worf had done with Kurn, the two brothers, and some key allies were sanding down some of the rougher edges of their nation.

“Would you like an ice-water, Ambassador?” Fetisov had already poured one for she and Necheyav.

“That is most kind of you, Madam President, thank you.” The tall, angular man took his seat in the typical Klingon fashion: knees spread, his gigantic hands resting on his knees. “How may I be of service today?”

“As my invitation stated, Ambassador Kurn”, Fetisov began, “we simply want a clarification of Chancellor Worf's statement on the current situation between The Federation and Fenris.”

“First, Madam President”, the Ambassador responded, “I can tell you there is no change in the relationship at this moment between The Klingon Empire and The United Federation of Planets. Those relations have been strong for a number of years under my brother.”

“And yet”, Necheyav spoke for the first time, “some might consider the Chancellor's statement a threat of war in what is, after all, an internal Federation matter.”

“I must respectfully disagree, Admiral Necheyav”, Kurn said in his usual staccato delivery. “The Federation certainly has a right to defend its interest, however, I must point out that if war would break out on Fenris, it would not stay localized. Your own statement on XB's makes it quite clear that one, you still desire to apprehend the former drone, Seven of Nine, and two, that you desire the elimination of XB's. It has been your policy for a number of years.”

“We have _never_ advocated for the slaughter of XB's”, the President rejoined. “We are after Seven because she has killed over one hundred people on Freecloud, at the Cardassian prison, and the Ferengi trading post.”

“She has”, Kurn countered. “But none of this, I might add, are within Federation jurisdiction. Seven of Nine has not offered, nor carried out any threats against The Federation, is that not so? Unless...The Federation is conducting its own...research on XB's?”

Alexandria Fetisov had no knowledge of the facility on Ganymede. That had been established by Sloan and Necheyav before her election to the Presidency. Her denial was sincere.

“We have no such facility, Ambassador Kurn”, Fetisov said evenly, without any strain in her voice. “I find what happened to Seven of Nine's son appalling, if that what he was, years ago. I read the report. It was beyond appalling. I would never support such a thing.”

Necheyav felt, more or less, the same way, only insofar as she would at least anesthetize the woman to get the information she desired. And she had no idea of the shady past of the woman Bjayzl, whom Seven had vaporized on Freecloud.

Kurn nodded. “I take you at your word, Madam President. As I said to begin, the Chancellor is not changing anything with relation to The Federation. He is concerned, however, about what hostilities would mean for the safety of The Klingon Empire. We would not look kindly on The Federation initiating a war on Fenris.”

“As you know, Ambassador”, Necheyav said tartly, “ _they_ attacked _us_ a short while ago. I'm sure Chancellor Worf is aware of that.”

“Our own intelligence services have received the reports on the attack that resulted in the assassination of the Federation Counsel General, and as you know, Chancellor Worf condemned it in the strongest terms. However, the information is that it was not sanctioned, nor carried out by the Fenris Government. Prime Minister Sladek condemned the attack immediately.”

“Are you willing to give us the assurances of the Chancellor that, if hostilities do break out on Fenris, that the Klingon Government will stay neutral?”

Kurn shook his head. “I cannot give you such assurances, as that would depend on the circumstances surrounding the outbreak of hostilities, which, I must say, are in no one's interest. That decision would be up to the Chancellor.”

“Let me summarize”, the President said, wrapping up the meeting. “Chancellor Worf is not indicating any change in the Diplomatic relations between The Federation and The Klingon Empire, correct?”

“That is correct, Madam President.”

“But beyond that, you can give us no assurance of Klingon neutrality if war breaks out?”

“At the moment, that is correct. The Chancellor has not indicated to me, or the High Council, what our response might be to such a war.”

With that, the meeting broke up, no one satisfied with the outcome.

Kurn might look like a knuckle-dragger to the two women, but he had a keen intellect. His report to his brother would be most interesting. He believed the Federation President, but he would note how, for the most part, Admiral Necheyav was either silent, or decidedly hostile in her responses.


	3. Chapter 3

III

Near McKinley Station

**Janeway and the others had** decided to leave _Icheb I_ under cloak on Ganymede. It was parked on the opposite side of the moon from where the XB's were being held. They had detected no other facilities on the moon, and felt it was safe if they all went together.

They arrived in the vicinity of McKinley Station a short while later, far enough away that they were clear of the usual routes any incoming vessels would take to dock at the station.

“I am receiving exact coordinates for where we should 'park' the _Phantom_ ”, Seven said tersely, becoming more nervous, despite Kathryn's earlier assurances. “At that point, the mystery ship will rendezvous with us, and extend their shields around us.”

It didn't take long for the other ship to arrive. Apparently the vessel's transponder was turned off, and, coming in on the _Phantom_ from above, they couldn't identify it.

“We are receiving the coded signal that came with Patterson's instructions”, Tuvok noted calmly. “Replying now.”

“ _Alien vessel, transmission confirmed. Prepare for beam-out.”_

Kathryn responded. “Understood, five to beam to your location.”

“ _Affirmative, beaming five.”_

They all felt the familiar tingle of the onset of a transport, the blue light enveloping them. Moments later, they materialized on the transporter pad, a familiar face looking back at them.

“Talk about a dangerous looking bunch.”

Janeway's face lit up with a huge smile. “Harry!” She ignored all protocol, racing off the pad and hugging her former Operations officer. “My God, Harry”, she said, kissing him on the cheek, turning him beet read, “It's been so...so long.” Kathryn had tears in her eyes. “I have missed you, Captain Kim.”

Harry hugged her back, remembering he was a Captain now, precisely because of the woman that had embraced him. “It's good to see you, Admiral”, he said with a cracked voice. “I've missed you, too.”

The others came up to greet Harry. The Captain of the _Calgary_ had stayed in semi-regular contact with Tuvok, and, of course his best friends, B'Elanna and Tom, yet still hadn't seen them in a while.

When he made his way to Seven, tears filled his eyes. “Hey Seven, long time no see.”

Seven didn't wait, and wrapped him in a fierce hug. “Oh, Harry Kim, my dear, sweet friend. I am sorry I've dragged you into this mess.” Harry softly kissed her on the cheek.

“Hey, we're family, right?” Seven lightly laughed. “Family looks after each other, even if they haven't seen each other for years.”

Seven hugged him again. She had a special affinity for Harry Kim. She recalled, fondly now, Harry's awkward advance to her shortly after she arrived on _Voyager_. The two of them had developed the Astrometrics Lab on that ship, which was still a standard on all Federation ships now, and beyond that, they had become close friends.

Harry stepped back as everyone, save Tuvok, collected their emotions. “Welcome to the _Calgary_ , my friends. I wish we had more time for socializing, but Admiral Patterson said this is urgent. Follow me to the briefing room?”

It was strange, to say the least, to see Harry Kim at the head of the briefing table, his First Officer next to him. “I'd like you to me my XO, Robin Garcia.” He introduced his long-time friends in return.

“It's an honor to meet all of you”, Robin said, clearly in awe. “The Captain talks about all of you incessantly.”

“And he still let us onboard?” Tom gave his best friend a sly smile.

“I thought about leaving you behind, Paris”, Harry chided back, making them all, save Tuvok, chuckle.

He turned to Janeway. “OK, Adm...Kathryn”, he amended with a blush. “I know about what Seven did, but Patterson didn't tell me what this meeting is about, just that you need some assistance.”

Janeway spent the good part of a half hour, filling in the Captain and First Officer on the events of the past several months, both of them spell-bound by all the information. Kathryn allowed Seven to fill Harry in on their hunt for the XB's, and the location of the facility on Ganymede.

“The facility is too large for the five of us to storm it, and rescue the XB's. It's simply not feasible.”

“So Patterson sent me out here to see if I'd be interested in assisting you?” Harry had learned how to put on the Captain's Mask, and he had learned to be an exceptional poker player, both in the actual card game, and as a negotiator in the role of Captain. He didn't let his face reveal anything. Inwardly, Kathryn Janeway smiled.

“You want to open up that facility and make it public, don't you?” Captain Kim raised an eyebrow. “One, to show the Universe that Seven had justification, although misplaced”, he added, with a wink at her, “and two, to blunt what Necheyav is doing on Fenris, correct?”

“That is part of it, Captain Kim”, Tuvok said formally. “The other objective of Admiral Necheyav, and the ubiquitous Mr. Sloan is to turn The Federation into, for all intent and purpose, a military dictatorship. They believe that, if they incarcerate Seven, and learn everything from her cortical node, that they can build new weapons that could far out-strip anything that anyone else in the known Universe has. They could bend anyone to their will.”

“And then they'd toss Seven out an airlock afterward”, Harry said bitterly. He shook his head. “Just to use you guys as a sounding board, what do you think of the Klingons getting involved?

B'Elanna spoke for them, being the resident Klingon herself. “I think Chancellor Worf is as smooth a customer as The Empire has every had. I've met him. Even though he's completely Klingon, he was raised by human parents, and he and I are very much alike. That upbringing is serving him, and The Empire well. He'll back up his words if needed, even though the last thing he wants is a war.”

“Very un-Klingon of him”, Janeway mused, then looked at Torres. “No offense, B'Elanna”, she said with a warm smile.

B'Elanna grinned back. “None taken. I see it as a compliment.”

Harry brought the meeting back to business. “As I'm sure you all understand, I will need to talk to my Senior Staff, and get their views as well.”

Kathryn nodded. “I wouldn't have it any other way, Captain Kim”, she said with a serious face.

“Robin”, he turned to his First Officer, “inform the Senior Staff of a meeting here in thirty minutes.” He turned back to his friends. “Meanwhile, I offer you to use The Mess Hall. There is no Leola Root, and the food is excellent.”

That got a round of laughter, and even a nod with raised eyes, from Tuvok.

“I will meet you all back here once we are done. Agreed?”

“Aye, Captain”, Seven said proudly, as she was, indeed, very proud of her friend.

* * *

Now that Ed Jellico had a tracking device implanted within Sloan, his operatives could discreetly track him. So far, they had learned that he usually beamed out of Headquarters to what was thought to be his home in The Presidio area of the city. If he went out, he mostly went on foot. He never strayed too far from his home. He had no visible signs of any people used as security at his residence, but that could simply mean they were inconspicuous.

Twice he entered a public transport station, the first time he was transported to Paris, was there for a few hours, then returned home. The second time was to Los Angeles. The location he ended up at in L.A was a bit of an eye-opener. Upon getting the address, Jellico cross-referenced it in the Federation Database, and found it was a residence that was listed as a “suspicious location”, by Starfleet Intelligence. The file on that was not available to Jellico, which made him wonder.

He brushed that thought aside for a while. He was getting a feel for Sloan-a secretive, very careful man, who didn't often wander far from his base, either at Federation Headquarters, or his home in The Presidio.

Jellico wasn't ready to grab the man-not yet, at least. He wanted to see if he led his operatives in San Francisco anywhere interesting. If things on Fenris got any worse, he would have to alter his plans.

* * *

Will Riker had stayed in Malaga for a while, as events began to pick up steam. He went to San Francisco when needed, but otherwise stayed close to home. That would change if hostilities broke out. For now, as a non-active Starfleet officer, he was on the outside looking in, as it were. He had to admit to himself he was itching for some action.

Deanna was gone for the day, visiting Beverly Crusher in San Francisco. He encouraged his wife to keep up her independence away from him, which is one of the things he admired most about her. And it gave him some free time just to be lazy, he admitted to himself with a smile.

He was at his work station, reading up on the latest from Fenris, when the computer warbled at him.

“ _Incoming, recorded communication”._

“Computer, display incoming message, standard encryption.”

“ _Confirmed. Standard encryption.”_

A familiar face appeared on the screen, Will's eyes going in surprise. “Worf”.

“ _Admiral Riker, I hope this transmission finds you and Deanna in good health. I wish this was simply a social call, as I would be most happy to see you and Deanna again, but my duty compels this message today._

“ _As you are no doubt aware, I issued a statement on behalf of the Empire, condemning the actions of The Federation on Fenris. I cannot tell you more, at least at the moment, but an old friend of mine, whom I served with on Kurn's ship in the Klingon Civil War, is a Fenris Ranger, and he reached out to me about a month ago._

“ _I can't, as Chancellor, make a decision based on friendship alone, but the situation on Fenris, and with the Federation drifting closer to something...unimaginable...compelled me to act._

“ _I am asking you,as a friend, and a fellow warrior, who has served side-by-side with me honorably, if you can locate Admiral Picard. I wish for him to meet with Ambassador Kurn as soon as possible. I have already advised Kurn that I would reach out to our former Captain, and he is anxious to rendezvous with Picard._

“ _Embedded in this transmission is the location Kurn has chosen to meet, and how to contact him. I would be honored, if it is convenient, for you to accompany Jean-Luc to the meeting, as Kurn also values your insights greatly._

" _'IwlIj jachjaj, to you, my friend. Worf out.”_

Will smiled wistfully, thinking back on the extremely courageous, conscientious Klingon that he admired as much as any person in the Universe. He had attended Worf's ascension as Chancellor, Worf mentioning his time with he and Picard on the _Enterprise_ as the most important thing that had shaped his professional life.

Will considered it an honor for the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, and a close friend, to carry his message to Picard.

* * *

Onboard The _Calgary_

Harry had been right: their Mess hall was a far cry above what _Voyager_ had had, but that wasn't quite fair, as Calgary was within range of known supplies. _Voyager_ was always having to wing it. When joking about Leola Root, all five of them, including Tuvok, reminisced fondly about Neelix.

Ninety minutes after Harry had sent them so he could meet with his staff, he still had not returned. No one said anything, but that was making everyone pensive, wondering if there was a division in what to do in this situation.

“It's his ship”, B'Elanna reminded them all, “and I can scarcely recall times when you didn't bounce a major decision off of us.”

“I admit, there were a few “, Kathryn said with a lopsided smile. “The Omega Particle comes to mind, but in the end, all of you were right in that one-I couldn't have done it by myself.”

“We would always have backed you, Kathryn”, Seven said with a firm, quiet voice. “I still believe, and no disrespect to Chakotay”, she said with a hint of sadness, “that we would not have made it home without you as our Captain.”

“Hear, hear!” B'Elanna raised her water glass, the others doing the same.

Kathryn didn't blush, but the almost-maternal pride she had shown all of them in the Delta Quadrant burst forth on her face again. It wasn't quite the same as maternal pride, especially for Tuvok and Seven, but it was close.

“We wouldn't have made with out the most incredible crew that a Captain could have”, she said, again raising her glass, the others silently doing the same.

“I believe the compromise to this”, Tuvok said, he fingers steeped together, “is that we had an exemplary group of individuals, who looked after one another, and were determined to get home.”

“Why Tuvok”, B'Elanna said grinning at the Vulcan, who raised his eyebrows, “if I didn't know better, I'd say you just got emotional?”

The others three softly laughed.

“As I have always told you, Ms. Torres”, he said formally, but B'Elanna clearly seeing a twinkle in his eyes, “I am a Vulcan. It is not true that we have no feelings. We do. But we suppress them. Yet I can say with certainty that thinking about those days on _Voyager_ fills me with a sense of...camaraderie, for the four of you, Mr. Kim, and everyone we served with.”

“Softie”, Janeway said, clearly touched, and laying a hand on Tuvok's forearm.

As they finished another round of toasts, there was a bustle at the entrance to the Mess Hall, Harry and his First Officer entering the dining area.

“Captain”, Tom said, not forgetting to be a little less casual with Harry's crew present. “You were right, the food here is wonderful!”

“I told you, Tom”, Harry said triumphantly, as the other chuckled. “I will need to see all of you, along with my Senior Staff, Holodeck Three, in one hour.” He smiled at them. “We have plans to make.”

They all glanced at each other with a small grin. Kathryn answered for them all. “Aye, Captain Kim. We will be there on time.”

* * *

Jean-Luc Picard had remained in France after Will Riker's message about the Klingon Empire interjecting themselves into the crisis between The Federation and Fenris. He had still not come up with a satisfactory resolution of what he should do to aid the cause he had volunteered for.

With Worf's request for Picard to meet Ambassador Kurn, Picard started to come up with a few idea. Still, at the moment, there was not a lot he could do to affect the situation. He hated to be on the sidelines, but he wanted to do something effective.

Picard had Riker send the encrypted signal to Kurn, and two days later, the three men were in Riyadh, Arabia, for the meeting. Kurn had a summer villa there, the warmer climate agreeing with his Klingon heritage.

Riker and Picard materialized at Kurn's office in the city. He would never be as polished as his brother, but he had grown into an effective, well-regarded diplomat. He also highly respected the two Human males, and not just because his brother had. He came to regard them as warriors in their own right, who were has tough as anyone Kurn had known.

“Gentlemen”, Kurn said, with a toothy grin, “it has been far too long since I had the fortune of being in your company.” He reached out his hand in the human tradition, firm handshakes given and received.

“Ambassador Kurn”, Picard smile. “Indeed it has been, my friend.”

Kurn waved Picard off. “We are old friends, the three of us. I will always be simply Kurn, son of Mogh, among those I respect.” He turned to Riker. “Riker, I thought retirement would make you soft and...more out-of-shape”, he said with the sharp Klingon laugh, “but you look well, my old friend.”

“I'm a good cook, Kurn”, Riker grinned, “but I don't want to turn into an old man.”

“Come, my friends. I have refreshments for us.”

Picard raised his eyebrows. “Blood Wine?”

“Hell, no”, Kurn said, more like a Human than a Klingon. “Give me what they call this 'Tennessee sipping Whiskey' any day. I can drink more of it.” The three mean laughed heartily.

“How can we be of service to day, Mr. Ambassador?” Despite Kurn's insistence that he be called simply by his given name, Picard wanted to steer the meeting to the business at hand. Kurn understood that.

“As you know, Worf and the High Council are very concerned with events around Fenris. We have excellent intelligence services, as you know, and we can see part of the end game with what is going on. But some of it still is not clear to the Chancellor.”

“May I ask you something first, Kurn”, Picard inquired.

“By all means, Admiral.”

“The scuttlebutt is that Worf received a message from an old friend from his days during the Civil War. May I inquire who it was?”

Kurn smiled. He had been briefed by his brother. “It was someone you have met, Admiral Picard: Qochur, the Fenris Ranger, served with us when I commanded a squadron in the Civil War against the Duras Family. Shortly after, he was in the Beta Quadrant, and a Borg scout ship attacked and assimilated everyone in the crew. Qochur, and from what I understand, ad few others eventually broke from The Collective.”

Picard gave an answering smile. “I have indeed met Qochur, he is a brave, resourceful warrior. Do you know how much he told Worf about our meeting?”

“He told the Chancellor a little, but Qochur indicated that you would understand the...larger picture better than he.”

Picard nodded in understanding. “There is a lot of layers to this one, Kurn. It may take a while to get through it all.”

“Do not worry about time, Picard. We have as much of that as we need.”

Picard spent the bulk of an hour going over the history of Necheyav: during the Borg incursion; Wolf 359; how it had radicalized her. He delved into the political battle between Necheyav and Kathryn Janeway after _Voyager's_ return, which muzzled the Admiral until she left Starfleet a decade later, and was one of the reasons why Picard himself resigned.

Then he brought up Seven of Nine. Kurn had heard the name, and knew she was a large reason for what was going on, but not the background. As a true warrior, he did not flinch when hearing about how Seven's son, Icheb, was brutally murdered, although his eyes flickered to life for a few moments.

He made his way up to the most recent history: Seven's attack at Freecloud; the attack in Cardassian, then Ferengi space.

“It isn't just that she's an XB, Ambassador”, Will Riker added when Picard had finished. “Her full designation was Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One.”

“What, exactly, does that mean.”

Picard looked at the man, knowing he would get it immediately.

“She was in line to be the new Borg Queen.”

That almost knocked Kurn off his seat.

“So you are saying, she knows more than most former Borg?”

“Not just that', Riker interjected. "Her cortical node keeps her alive. It's a device The Borg use to help a drone store information. Now her node came from her late son, Icheb, after hers had malfunctioned. Yet afterwards, Seven was captured for a while by the Queen, reconnected to the Hive Mind-although the Queen let her keep her individuality, and Seven believes that she has enough information buried in the device, that The Federation could eventually create some truly horrific weapons.”

“Then they would do to this Seven, what they did to her son?” Kurn shook his head. “As you know, Riker, I am not, as people on Earth say, a 'pantywaist', but I have two daughters that I love and try to honor every day in this life. If some _tugh bID_ did to one of them, what they did to Seven's son, I'd have hunted them down myself. I congratulate her on killing the one who took her son from her.”

Klingons had legendary tempers, but what Picard and Riker saw in Kurn's eyes was something very personal-the anger of a father, who tried to imagine what happened to Icheb happening to one of his own children. It would have wilted lesser men.

“The end game is Necheyav, and this Mr. Sloan”, Picard finished, “want to turn The Federation into a monstrosity that will terrorize the known Universe in ways we've never seen. It's all borne out of fear of The Borg, and the lust for power.”

Kurn was silent for a moment, digesting what Picard and Riker had told him. Years ago, he would have just shot off his mouth and said something petulant, but he had matured. He was a father himself, and he truly believed in the path his brother, as Chancellor was setting for the Klingon Empire-a path that upheld the honor and glory of their past, while turning The Empire into a decent neighbor in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. He had convinced his people that there was honor in not simply fighting, but in avoiding a fight when necessary.

Kurn shook his head, as if shaking off a headache. “I believe Worf was correct in his assessment to oppose any Federation move against Fenris, and when I tell him of your stories about Seven of Nine, he will think of Alexander, and come to the same conclusions I have. The Federation cannot be allowed to occupy Fenris, nor capture Seven of Nine.”

Kurn turned the conversation to a summary of his meeting with Necheyav, which would help give Admiral Jellico more of an insight into the current mindset of Necheyav. Picard and Riker were sure Worf's proclamation against The Federation at Fenris had given the C-in-C pause. That pause could be crucial to bringing things under control.

Eventually, Kurn stood to end the interview, walking toward the entrance with the two Human males. “Gentlemen, I must confess, you have given me, and I'm sure, my brother, much to consider. Like you, I believer Worf has made Necheyav stop and pause for a while. That may be key to solving this...dilemma.”

“I agree, Ambassador”, Picard said, extending his hand to the Klingon. “The circumstances may not be...ideal, Kurn, but it has been good to see you again.”

Kurn grasped his hand hard. “I am always honored when in your presence, Admiral Picard.”

Riker stepped up and grasped his hand, too. “You know, you're always invited to Spain to visit Deanna and I, have some good wine from Picard's vineyard, and some great food, my friend.”

“Yes, I had almost forgotten”, Kurn laughed, “you do cook excellent Klingon dishes. However, I can just as easily handle what they call a 'Cowboy Ribeye steak, medium rarer, about three pounds?”

Riker laughed but his eyes went wide. “I'll be sure to have my own cow ready for your arrival, my friend!” Kurn again barked a laugh.

“I hope, my friends, it will not be as long before we share the same room again. _Qapla_ to us all.”


	4. Chapter 4

IV

San Francisco

**Sloan actually had his own** office within Starfleet Headquarters, and also one in the building that housed the Capitol of The Federation Government. Neither was very large, but the fact that a man who was, at least technically, not part of either organization, to even have an office in those structures was testament to his power.

Not many people in either building knew the scope and breadth of his powers. He was officially listed as a “Consultant”, a ubiquitous title that said so little, but so much all at once. Necheyav thought of him as simply another underling to order around. She didn't realize the power he wielded.

He was, in essence, the power of The Federation. He was Section 31.

to be sure, he wasn't the only member of Section 31. It was a vast network that he and others before him had built up over years. Many Admirals, Captains, diplomats, and others were involved. There were Klingons within the ranks, and Romulans, and Cardassians, and even an occasional Ferengi, all either True Believers in a Federation sculpted in Sloan's image, or paid informants, spies, mercenaries-whatever was required.

It had paid dividends when the Synths had attack on Mars; it had paid off for Sloan when he had hired Bjayzl to hunt down Icheb and Seven-well it had partially paid off. That woman, now dead at the hands of Seven of Nine, had been someone that Sloan had thought of terminating quite often. She had been as monstrous as anyone that Sloan had ever met-even if she did serve a purpose for him. He wouldn't even think of doing to XB's what that woman had done-and Icheb had just been one of many.

Sloan didn't shy away from violence-in another of his lives, this being the third, he had been trained by the _Tal Shiar-_ but he consider himself a sadist, either. He had killed more than a few himself, either enemies, or allies that had gone astray. Yet Sloan still felt there was still a kind of backward code of Honor among people like him. The _Tal Shiar_ had taught him a form of loyalty that he still tried to hold onto to this day, which is why he was in no hurry to do anything about Necheyav. Their views were similar, even if they couldn't stand each other.

It was time for one of his assets to perform a task to further his ambitions for The Federation. He sent an encrypted message from his work station, which only one person would know what to do with. That person should receive his wishes in about four hours.

* * *

Captain Harry Kim had taken a ride with his friends aboard the Phantom, along with Commander Robin Garcia, his First Officer, to get a first-hand scan of Ganymede, and the facility that was ensconced there. The were currently in synchronous orbit around the moon.

“That's a lot of people”, he told the group, after getting the latest scans and readouts. “As good as you guys are, I don't think, even with Seven, you could have taken all of them.”

Kathryn Janeway nodded. “You'll get no argument from me, Harry. Plus we wouldn't really have anywhere to put the XB's once we get them out of there.”

Harry studied the information a little longer. “We don't have much of the interior, but it's a good bet it's laid out pretty much like any standard Federation holding facility.”

“That was our conclusion”, Tuvok said with a nod. “It is, as you say, Captain, only a guess, but we will probably have to proceed on that assumption.”

“If that's the case”, Tom offered, “then most of the people working there will be in offices in the front of the structure, with the cells to the rear.”

“We haven't noticed any sentries on the roof of the structure”, Seven observed. “Could we possibly land The _Phantom_ and the _Icheb I_ there, and work our way in from the top?”

“Even cloaked, the ships will make noise when we hit the surface, and we don't know if the roof can take it's weight.”

“That is possible, Mr. Paris”, Tuvok agreed. “Perhaps we can get a closer look at the top of the structure, perhaps take closer reading of the roof, and if there's any entrances or weaknesses?”

Janeway liked it. “Tom, break orbit, and get us as close to that facility as you can.”

“I can do that”, the Helmsman said crisply. “How close do you want us?”

Harry looked at his old friend. “If you can get us even within, say a hundred meters, and do so quietly, I think that's our best bet.”

Tom smiled at the Captain of the _Calgary. “_ Piece of cake, Harry. I can cut all engines except for hovering at about five thousand meters, then silently float over the facility.”

“Let's do it”, Harry Kim said, nodding at his friend.

Tom couldn't resist. “Aye, Captain.”

Harry simply rolled his eyes, which made the others snicker.

* * *

Near Fenris

Captain Amal Munshif was enjoying a quiet day of “picket duty”, as it used to be called, in his station near the world of Fenris. He and his ship, the U.S.S _Intrepid_ , the namesake of this class of ship, and the first of the _Intrepid Class_ ships that had been built, had seen no action since Admiral Shelby had led them back to Fenris. He had been The Boss on the _Intrepid_ for five years, and he absolutely loved this class of ship. It was a joy to fly and command.

He had been a young Ensign when _Voyager_ had returned from the Delta Quadrant, and like most youngsters then, he had been captivated by their return, and the stories of their exploits in the DQ. He had come to admire the entire crew, especially Kathryn Janeway, whom had made him want to become a Captain. Because of Janeway, he had done what she had done years ago: switched from a track in Science to one in Command. To have an Intrepid Class ship, even if it wasn't quite state-of-the-art any longer, fulfilled a dream for him.

Now, he found himself, apparently, on the other side of a dispute that Janeway was involved in. He didn't like that, but he had made his choices, and he wold stick with it.

He had gone to his Ready Room, bored out of his mind at the moment, as nothing of not was going on. Shortly after he arrived, he received a hail from The Bridge.

“ _Bridge to Captain”._

“Munshif here, go ahead?”

“ _Captain, we have an incoming message, marked your eyes only.”_

“Thank you, route it to my Ready Room. Munshif out.”

In moments, the communication was on his work station. “Computer, further restrict access to this document to this work station, Authorization Munshif 2-3-gamma-tango.”

“ _Document now restricted to current workstation.”_

Most captains did that for a “eyes only” transmission. He began to pull it up, and froze for a moment. In order to view anything “Eyes-Only”, or “Classified”, or even above, one had to give the computer a specific authorization. This one was like that.

But it wasn't from Starfleet Command. It was from someone else.

“Computer, lock doors, and erect a level ten acoustic dampener around this room, Authorization Munshif beta-7-6-6-alpha-delta.”

“ _Affirmative, doors now locked and level ten acoustic dampener enabled.”_

Years ago, Munshif had publicly made some pronouncements critical of those who didn't want to fight The Borg immediately, and in which he admitted that the only ex-drone he liked was a dead one. It had gotten attention of a man that he now was associated. One reason his ship was at Fenris was because of this man.

He only knew the man by the name Sloan.

He read the instructions, then erased any trace of the message.

He had work to do.

* * *

“I think the best option”, Captain Harry Kim said, after they had put their heads together to discuss how to hit the XB facility, “is to land the two small ships on the roof. The _Calgary_ came standard with about one-hundred Special Forces onboard-it's why we get called so often to hostage situations. I can put about ten on each of your ships to help breach the facility from above.”

He paused to look at the up-close images they had obtained from their inspection. “We can land the ships, one in front, one in back. Once inside, and when we get the signal from Seven, I can quickly beam down about another sixty SpecOp troops. That should be enough to neutralize the place.”

“Will the Calgary jam transmissions coming from the facility?”

“Yes, B'Elanna”, Harry confirmed. “After we get Seven's signal, we'll make sure no transmission leaves the surface.”

“Even with that”, Tuvok offered, “we should try to secure the facility with in fifteen minutes. There is always a chance a ship could off the ground, and escape.”

Janeway nodded. “I think fifteen minutes is reasonable. By that time, we should have the facility neutralized, then the _Calgary_ can get closer and beam the XB's onboard.”

“Who takes the fore, and who takes the aft”, Tom Paris asked.

“I believe with our advanced tactical and hand-to-hand combat skills, Seven and I will accompany our ten SpecOp members to assault the front of the building, while the three of you”, he said, looking at Tom, B'Elanna, and Kathryn, “work to secure the rear and the holding cells.”

“May I make something clear?” Seven looked pensively at them all. “When we enter the holding cells, and whatever other room we might find, there is a chance that we will encounter...” She paused to take a breath. “We will encounter something similar to what I saw when I last saw Icheb.” The room was still. “If you find anyone who looks like they're beyond hope, I suggest you euthanize them, then move on.”

No one looked at Seven for the moment. They all knew she was speaking from the heart.

“Seven”, Kathryn said softly, “we could hold off and wait until we can get The Doctor over here. From what Jellico told us, he's done with his mission at Starfleet Medical. If we could get him here, and onto the Calgary, he may be able to save some of those people?”

“Being this close to Earth”, B'Elanna added softly, “we could have him here in under a day. I'd like us to save as many as we can. I think Icheb would want that.”

Seven glanced over at her Klingon friend. “I...I hadn't thought of that to be honest, B'El.” She looked down sadly. “If there are no objections?” No one spoke.

Janeway turned to Captain Kim. “Harry?”

“I have no problem bringing The Doctor onboard. Once we get all the XB's onboard, Jellico has ordered the _Calgary”,_ Harry said, looking at Tuvok, “ to take them to Vulcan.”

Tuvok, for once, looked startled. “To Vulcan? I was not aware of this development.”

“I know, Tuvok”, Harry said, sounding fully like a Captain. “Jellico contacted me last night and informed me of this. This has been the contingency since all of you met near Mintaka III, and made the decision to go after the XB's. Jellico has told me there is a dedicated facility on the planet to help with the injuries.”

“The Doctor will no doubt be leading the medical staff, with his knowledge of Borg physiology?”

“Correct, Seven. That's all been taken care of.”

“Intriguing”, Tuvok responded, almost _sotto voce_.

“How about your crew, Harry”, Janeway said pointedly. “Do they know about this, and will there be any surprises that we may not like.”

Harry didn't like the question, but understood it. He wasn't that green kid of years ago. He had seen his own horrors and lost people under his command as a Captain. He knew this was a deadly game.

“Everyone is aware”, Harry said, not blinking at his old captain. “The Senior Staff is behind this one-hundred percent, as is the SpecOp teams. I can't guarantee, Admiral, that all thousand-plus people on my ship will like this. I'm sorry.”

Janeway nodded. It was the answer she would have given, posed the same question.

“Very well”, Harry said, as he was in titular command of this, since this was now sanctioned by at least one faction of Starfleet. “We go at 0300 tomorrow. That should be just about the quietest time in that facility.”

They all synchronized their chronometers. It was now 1400 hours. Harry would return to his ship, and the others would be stationary near Ganymede. They would remain cloaked and everyone onboard would get some shut-eye.

Harry wouldn't be so lucky. He had some work to do. First and foremost, he needed to get The Doctor onboard his ship.


	5. Chapter 5

V

**Jean-Luc Picard had come** to a decision about what he thought was the proper thing for him to do. People saw him as a man of action, but had always felt he was more a man of principle. He had always trusted his moral compass, and he was going to trust it now.

He informed the _San Francisco Chronicle_ , which was read in many parts of the Quadrant, that he was going to make an address near Starfleet Headquarters in two days. He informed them the subject would be the current situation on Fenris, as well as the attempt by Necheyav to capture Seven of Nine.

He had no idea where Seven was at the time, yet Seven told him to contact her if he needed to. She gave him a Borg subspace frequency to send message on. The night before his decision, he had sent her a missive.

_Seven;_

_I hope this short communication finds you well. I am going to make a speech in San Francisco in a few days. If you get this before Friday, the day of the speech, I am seeking your permission to tell Icheb's story, as you had told it to me. It's something, obviously, that The Federation has failed to mention in their personal attacks on you._

_I await your reply._

_Jean-Luc_

Very early Friday morning, he received a reply from the former drone.

_Jean-Luc_

_I am doing as well as can be expected for a fugitive. Kathryn is keeping me out of trouble. In normal circumstances, I would like to be the one who tells Icheb's story, and how he died. But I can't think of anyone else, beside myself, or Kathryn, that I would rather have speak in my behalf. I ask you one thing: do not excuse my behavior in killing everyone else beside Bjayzl. She deserved it, but I am not asking for sympathy for my other acts._

_Seven_

With that, Picard informed Admiral Jellico that he was coming to San Francisco. Soji and Elnor were going to accompany him. He felt the possibility that Necheyav or Sloan might try to interrupt his message. The two younger people, he knew, would protect him.

* * *

The Next Morning, Starfleet Headquarters

_What was that old saying,_ Admiral Necheyav thought to herself. “ _Will someone not rid me of this meddlesome priest?”_ At the moment, that's what she was thinking about Jean-Luc Picard.

The man, for all his heroics, and all the accolades he had garnered over a sixty-plus year career, had been an eternal pain in her side. She would never admit that the acrimony between them was mostly her fault, blaming Picard for daring to let The Borg assimilate him so many years ago, which led to the disaster at Wolf 359. She couldn't separate the man, Jean-Luc Picard, from the assimilated being, Locutus of Borg. To her, they were one in the same-just as Seven of Nine was, in Necheyav's mind, nothing more than another drone.

While Necheyav didn't have a real idea what Picard was going to speak about, she had a pretty good guess: Fenris. Necheyav had worn out Picard over the years, just like she had Janeway, and both left the service because she had put in iron grip on the leadership in San Francisco. It wasn't where she wanted it, at least not yet, but not having Picard around, at least officially, had made her plans much more attainable than had he been a serving Admiral.

She had called Sloan, Admirals Adams, Selvur, and Weinrich for another meeting, to talk about Picard.

Sloan, as usual, put things in a way only he could. “Why are you so upset by this, Admiral?” He couldn't help baiting Necheyav. “He's going to say a bunch of words. So what? If that's all he's got, it won't change things.”

Necheyav shook her head. “You don't get it, Sloan, do you? He is a powerful voice within The Federation. Why do you think I worked so hard to drive him out?”

“You drove him out because you see him as Locutus, not Picard”, Sloan shot back. “It serves our purpose to frame him as a former Borg, but, to be fair, Admiral, he didn't asked to be assimilated. And neither did Annika Hansen, for that matter.”

“Whose side are you on, Sloan”, she demanded angrily, staring the man down. He simply looked back at her placidly.

“Make no mistake, Admiral”, he said with an edge to his voice, “I oppose Picard and Seven of Nine, and what they could do to us. But I'm also not going to make the mistake of thinking they joined The Borg willingly. You seem to think they did.”

“He killed my husband, Sloan, so don't lecture me about what he is.”

It was her blind spot, and a major one, Sloan knew, and it was a way that he could eventually drive her out of her position, and put someone more...even-keeled into the role of C-in-C. He was no fan of The Borg, but he could see things clearly. Necheyav couldn't.

“Admiral, we cannot stop him from speaking. We don't really have that power, at least not now. Let him have fifteen more minutes of fame. Let's see what he says first, then respond to it. Perhaps we should start shadowing his movements?”

“I've considered that”, Necheyav said, more calmly. “He'll probably notice, even if it's well-concealed. I never said he was dumb.”

“Is it enough that he knows he's being watched”, Admiral Adams added, “and know he can't really do anything about it?”

“Perhaps”, Necheyav said, with some contemplation. “Yet what...what if we could pull off something more...permanent?”

“You mean assassinate him?” Sloan almost laughed. “Turn him into a martyr? Because that's what you'd be doing.”

“Sometimes, the most effective enemy”, Admiral Selvur said quietly, “is one who has been silenced, so others can act in his stead.”

“In other words, it will anger a lot of people.”

Selvur nodded. “Correct, Admiral. I say that only as a cautionary tale.”

“Maybe we won't have to do anything”, Sloan said, remembering a card that would soon be played. “Maybe events will play out and neutralize any effectiveness he might have.”

“Playing an optimist, Sloan?” Necheyav gave him a wicked smile.

“I'm always optimistic, Admiral Necheyav”, he said with a wry grin. “However sometimes I'm optimistic that thing will go wrong if you push too hard.”

And all the while, Captain T'revva recorded the information in her Eidetic memory.

* * *

Q'onoS

Chancellor Worf sometimes missed the days of his service aboard the U.S.S _Enterprise._ There was something nostalgic about those times for the head of the Klingon Empire, and a simpler time, for both himself and the Universe. He openly gave credit to his service on the _Enterprise_ , and later at _Deep Space 9_ in giving him a wider perspective to be an effective Chancellor. His understanding, and his living within the two powers of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants gave him a unique view of the Universe.

He was awaiting the arrival of his brother, Ambassador Kurn, to discuss his talks with both Necheyav and with Picard and Riker. Reading diplomatic messages was one thing; hearing the voice of the man who had done the interviews was much more instructive.

“My brother”, Worf said with some emotion, embracing Kurn, “it is good to see you. It has been too long.”

“Chancellor”, Kurn said formally at first. “You are correct. It is good that the sons of Mogh are together again, brother. You look well.”

Worf gave him a wry look. “'Well', brother, is a subjective word. I am in good spirits, but this situation with Fenris and The Federation is a headache we could do without.”

“I agree”, Kurn said, pouring he and his brother a drink. “I know you agree that my reports to you, while thorough, cannot give you a true feel for my conversations.”

“We have as much time as we need, Kurn”, Worf informed him. “I have cleared my schedule for your arrival.”

Kurn gave Worf a detailed summary of his conversation, first with President Fetisov and Admiral Necheyav, and then the one with Picard and Riker. It lasted a good forty minutes, the Chancellor listening intently.

“Necheyav was far more confrontational than the President, which is not surprising, knowing what we think about Fetisov.”

Worf nodded. “She's nothing but a figurehead, a puppet for Necheyav. I find what Picard and Riker said about this Sloan quite interesting. And he believes the man runs Section 31?”

“That is his belief, Chancellor”, Kurn confirmed. “I would not bet against the man, either. I was hoping this Sloan was at the meeting, but unfortunately that was not the case.”

“What is Jean-Luc's impression of this Seven of Nine? I have heard of her, as I was still serving on DS9 when _Voyager_ returned, but I have never met her.”

“He will not give her a pass, as it were, for what she did in Ferengi and Cardassian space”, Kurn replied to his brother, “but he believes her intentions were honorable.” Kurn described the situation with Seven and Icheb, and how Bjayzl had betrayed Seven, and, in essence, murdered Icheb.

“Much as Picard didn't give me a pass when I killed Duras. Yet he still supported me, even though I had disappointed him. Interesting.”

“This Seven of Nine scares the life out of Necheyav, of that I'm certain. I believe it goes back to the fact she lost her husband at Wolf 359.”

“Being at Wolf 359 shortly after the event, I can tell you Kurn, was not an experience I would wish on anyone. The destruction we saw there-it still haunts me to this day.”

“I know that, brother”, Kurn said knowingly, “but many people lost family and friends there, but certainly blame Picard, because he had no control over his actions.”

“I do know Sisko held somewhat of a grudge against Picard”, Worf noted. “I discussed it with him a few times. He did admit he had trouble for a long time separating Picard from Locutus, but was eventually able to do so. I do not believe Necheyav has been able to...conquer that problem.”

“So what happens, Chancellor, if the Federation moves against Fenris?”

That was the question Worf had been waiting for. “I'm sure Necheyav asked you the same question?”

Kurn smiled. “She did, which is why I'm asking you.”

“I would have to see what precipitates the opening of hostilities before deciding that. If Fenris or the Rangers would initiate the conflict, I could not support it, even with the pressure of Admiral Shelby's fleet on their doorstep. But if The Federation would go after a much weaker world, even if it is solely within their borders? It would pose a long-term threat to the Empire. I would most likely have to, at the very least, send a large fleet to the border with The Federation.”

“You would not want to fight them...would you?”

"Do you want to fight them, brother?” Worf looked hard at Kurn.

Kurn didn't hesitate. “No, brother, I would not. You have taught me that there are ways besides open conflict to achieve ones wishes politically. I do not thing Gowron understood that point, which is why he is dead. But I agree with you, it would cause, at the very least, a great strain between us and The Federation.”

“My hope is, as you say, that the mere threat of intervention on our part, is staying Necheyav's hand against Fenris. Although I do no think Necheyav gives enough credit to the strength of Fenris and the Rangers. They are formidable.”

“I agree with you. It may be Necheyav's biggest weakness-underestimating Prime Minister Sladek, and the Rangers' Commander Besho.”

“For now, Kurn, I believe we simply monitor and prepare. I have already informed the Council that I want our ships to begin to re-deploy, so if I do move them to the border, it will not be something that takes a lot of time.”

“Such movements will be noted in San Francisco, Chancellor.”

Worf gave a rare, small smile. “I'm counting on that, Ambassador.”

* * *

The Next Day, San Francisco

Jean-Luc Picard was standing in Golden Gate park, on a surprisingly sunny, mild day in San Francisco. He could remember coming to this park during his Academy days, and finding a peaceful place to just relax once in a while. He still came here quite often when visiting the city.

Today, he wasn't going to be quiet. He was going to make his voice heard to the people of The Federation. Today, and these times, were not made for silence. He would make a impassioned plea for a return to the status quo on Fenris, and to ending the search by The Federation for Seven and any other XB's.

The event was well-attended. Necheyav had sent a few plainclothes informants to the event.

“As all of you know”, he began with a benign smile, “the situation on Fenris is precarious. Fenris has been a world that has known turmoil in its past, but has become a beacon to the outcast and the hated. The Fenris Rangers sole purpose is to find former Borg drones, and help them try to regain the life they had before being assimilated.

“I was assimilated years ago, for a very short time. No one wants to be assimilated, I assure you. Yet we often treat those that have been liberated from The Collective as beings that willingly participated in the deaths of millions. They don't. They remember all of it, but can do nothing to break free, unless broken free by an outside force.

“I was at Wolf 359, as a member of The Borg. I remember every second of it, and it haunts me to this day, that I could do nothing to stop it. The same is true for a young woman that The Federation has been chasing now for a decade.

“You know her as Seven of Nine, since The Federation only released the name of her Borg designation. Most of you know that she was born Annika Hansen, daughter of Erin and Magnus Hansen, scientists who went to the Delta Quadrant to study The Borg. When Annika was six-think about that, she was six-The Borg assimilated her parents, as well as Annika. She spent the next eighteen years as a member of The Collective.

“Annika was freed by Captain Kathryn Janeway and _Voyager._ While she goes by the name Seven to this day, she is Annika Hansen. I have met her on several occasions. She is a warm, conscientious, caring person. Now, I understand that doesn't sound like a cold-blooded killer, but that is who Seven of Nine is-a good person.”

Jean-Luc paused, with Soji and Elnor nearby, scanning the crowd for any threats. They saw none at the moment.

“Now, let me tell you something most of you don't know. About a decade ago, a young man whom, like Seven, was rescued from The Collective by _Voyager,_ who eventually graduated from Starfleet Academy, and became an officer, was captured by people who hunt down what are known now as XB's, which stands for ex-Borg. His name was Icheb, a native of the Delta Quadrant. Seven took him under her wings, and in time, she saw Icheb as her son.

“The last time Seven saw Icheb, he had had his one eye ripped from his skull, without anesthesia; he had other wounds throughout his body, were Borg implants had also been ripped out of him. Icheb begged Seven to put him out of his misery, and she did.”

Those who had come to listen were dead quite. No, most didn't know this story.

“Icheb died in Seven's arms, and it almost broke her as a person. She had lost her husband a short time before that. Seven then spent the next decade looking for the person who had ordered Icheb butchered. That person was someone that Seven thought had loved her, and she had a relationship with. That person was only using Seven to get to XB's.

“About eight months ago, she finally caught up with that person, and killed her.” Jean-Luc paused, as his face became deadly serious. “She also killed a number of other people on Freecloud; she then flew to Cardassian space, freed a host of XB's, and killed more than few dozen Cardassians who were experimenting on them; then Seven flew to Ferengi space, and freed more XB's, killing a few more dozen who were selling the XB's into slavery.

“Now, I will not and cannot condone anything beyond the killing of the person who took Icheb from her, but what is the old saying about one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter? Seven was being hunted all those years by not just The Federation, but anyone who could get their hands on her, or any XB.

“Seven is not a monster, far from it. She's a beautiful, caring woman, who is a Federation citizen, but whom the powers-that-be within The Federation refuse to recognize as such.

“How does this tie into Fenris? Quite simple. Seven was a Ranger-technically still is, in fact. Admiral Necheyav sent a fleet under Admiral Elizabeth Shelby to Fenris under the false premise that they believed Seven to be there, and under the protection of that planet. She was not there. I know for a fact she wasn't, but despite the Prime Minister of Fenris saying as much, Necheyav has decided to blockade Fenris, and it has cost the live of the Federation Counsel General there.

“We now sit on the edge of a possible war, which will go far beyond Fenris.”

He relaxed a little, putting a smile back on his face. “I will not insult your intelligence and tell you Seven of Nine is not guilty of killing those people. She did. She has admitted as much, but I ask you to put yourself in her shoes-as a parent, which she most certainly was to Icheb; as a former drone, who had almost two decades of her life taken from her; and as a human being, who has never been accepted as such by many people.

“I urge all of you, to demand that The Federation fleet leave Fenris space, and return home. I urge that The Federation stop their pursuit of Seven of Nine, and allow her to come home, if she so chooses, to explain her side of the story, without prejudice. A war on Fenris, which could very well end up involving not just The Federation, but the Klingon Empire, is something that no one will benefit from. I ask all people of good conscious to make their feelings known.”

Picard stepped off the small dais that had been placed there for him to speak from. There were overwhelming applause and shouts of encouragement from most of the crowd, who had come simply out of curiosity. More than a few walked up to shake Picard's hand.

Elnor, who had been scanning the crowd, had noticed one person who stood like a stone, with an undisguised expression of hatred toward Picard. Jellico had sent his own operatives to the speech, and Elnor hoped they captured an image of this person. Before Elnor could approach that person, they disappeared into the crowd.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate everyone who has commented on, and followed this series. I'm trying to finish this story this week, as, quite possibly, I could have a job by next week. I haven't worked since being laid off late in March due to COVID-19.

VI

**Aboard the U.S.S** _ **Intrepid**_ **,** Captain Amal Munshif was, at least outwardly, approaching this day like any other. There had been almost constant surveillance of his ship, and of Shelby's fleet, by ships out of Fenris. Either Fenris military vessels, or Fenris Ranger vessels, were keeping a close eye on the _Intrepid_ , _Galaxy_ , and _Sovereign_ Class ships that were enforcing the blockade.

Admiral Shelby had made it clear to every Captain: defensive action only, unless you felt your ship was in imminent danger. So far, the Fenris military and the Rangers had played it cool. Unfortunately for Shelby, not everyone on her blockade were working for Necheyav or for her.

Munshif had been recruited years ago by Section 31. He was already a member when Sloan climbed his way to the top-and in Section 31, you climbed your way over the bodies and careers of others. Sloan's _Tal Shiar_ training had come in handy in paving his way to the top. Of course, Munshif had no idea of that little nugget.

The truth was, Sloan wanted a war, even more than Necheyav. He wanted a reason to take The Federation to the next level. If truth be known, he wanted The Klingons to get involved, as he felt The Federation could cripple the Empire in a war, leaving The Federation as the only intact entity in the Alpha Quadrant, to do with as it pleased.

So here was Captain Munshif, put in place to wreak havoc on behalf of Sloan, Section 31, and The Federation. It was a shame, he thought sadly to himself, that his brave crew-and he himself, would have to be sacrificed for a greater good.

* * *

Captain Harry Kim had left the area of McKinley Station and set a course for his assigned zone near the Cardassian DMZ. However, once he moved just beyond the Kuiper Belt, the _Calgary_ turned off all of its transponders and identification markers, then did a one-eighty, heading back toward Ganymede. He then initiated the Borg-enhanced encryption that Seven had devised so the three ships could talk to each other and no one else could get in on the conversation.

His former EMH on _Voyager_ was now aboard his ship, and he had transferred ten SpecOp members to both the _Icheb I_ and the _Phantom_. They were set to move on the XB facility on Ganymede.

Harry, being an active Captain, was in command of this mission, since he would have his people as the larger force. Harry looked around his bridge, glad that he had hand-picked such a good team-a team that loved service in Starfleet, but who were also appalled at where Necheyav was taking The Federation. They had been briefed on this mission. They were behind it completely.

“Kim to Janeway”, Harry said crisply.

“ _Go ahead, Captain.”_

Harry gave a small smile, hearing Kathryn Janeway call _him_ Captain. “ _Calgary_ is in position. Begin your landings.”

“ _Aye, Captain”,_ Janeway said, nothing but business in her voice.

The two modern, cloaked ships began their slow, silent ascent through the thin, almost non-existent atmosphere of Jupiter's largest moon. The _Phantom,_ with Janeway and Seven onboard, approached the front of the complex. There was a medium-sized landing pad in front of the entrance, and they had discussed landing there, but everyone had agreed that landing on the roof, where there was a large access door leading into the facility, would give them a better chance at surprise.

Tom Paris was piloting the _Icheb I._ He was still one of the best pilots anyone could ever find, and, like Seven piloting the other ship, he made a soft, barely discernible landing on the rear section of the building.

The only problem was that they did not know the true layout of the complex. It was thought that the front, being an entrance, was where administration was handled, and that the rear would be where XB's were held in confinement. They also suspected a lower level was awaiting them as well.

Both ships touched down at the same moment.

On Janeway's ship, Lieutenant Commander Rufus Brown was heading the SpecOp team. On the _Icheb I_ , Lieutenant Pascal Castro was in charge of the unit. Both were veterans of many hostage and rescue situations, and had Kim's absolute trust.

“OK, people”, Brown said on the _,_ “let's move it.”

Seven followed him out of the ship into the darkness, the Commander leading the way with a small wrist light. They reached the entrance, Seven over-riding the lock quickly, and they headed quietly down the stairs. There were two turbolifts nearby, but the doors of the lift suddenly opening might announce their presence in a way that would negate surprise.

As they reached the main floor, Commander Brown had Seven over-ride that lock as well, then he gently opened it a crack, looking toward the front of the building. He extended a tiny mirror on a short arm that let him check the surrounding that would be behind them, gently closing the door after a few moments.

“OK”, he whispered to his team”, “there's seven individuals toward the front. Seems to be scanning devices for security, in front of a main desk. Three subjects by the scanning devices, two at the desk, and two just behind the desk. No subjects to our rear. Stow night vision gear. It's light enough in there.”

In moments the team was ready, Brown and one of his subordinates were the first through the door, shooting off a pair of flash-bangs from a snub-nosed weapon. Before the workers in the facility had a chance to react, the flash-bangs had lit up the room with a brilliant light, followed by two large concussions, disorienting their adversaries. The SpecOp team had their phasers on stun, and within moments, those seven individuals were incapacitated. Their wrists and ankles were quickly tied, and the unconscious people were put back in the stairway to be retrieved later.

* * *

Lieutenant Castro and his team had done the same thing, coming down a stairway, foregoing the turbolifts. Fortunately, the stairs were at the very rear of the building, and he only had to check one general direction.

The area the stairs emptied into seemed to be a maintenance area, with tools and other equipment stored. Two doors led out of that room. Since no one was present, they entered that room, with Castro and one of his underlings peeking through both doors as Brown had done in the front. They quickly cased the area.

The door Brown checked ran parallel to the rear of the building, the other door leading to an area deeper forward. He quickly held a discussion with the other man.

“The door I checked leads to what looks like crew quarters. There are simple doors, that look like what you'd see on the Calgary. Mike's door”, he said, referring to the other man, “leads to what looks like the Mess Hall. No one currently there.” Which made sense, since it was 0315 Fleet Standard Time.

They would head through the doors toward the crew quarters. There was very little light in the hallway. Again, being so late (or early, whichever way you look at it), most of the workers would be asleep. There were approximately twenty doors, ten on each side of a hallway. Tuvok and B'Elanna would over-ride the locks electronically, then a SpecOp member would go in, and stun any occupants.

At that moment, Castro initiated the second phase of the plan. “Castro to _Calgary,_ stand by to beam the teams in.”

There would be no acknowledgment.

“Night vision on, people”, Castro announced. Everyone immediately complied. He nodded at Seven and Tuvok, the former drone moving to the left, the Vulcan to the right, and began disabling the doors one at a time.

The first four doors on each side proved to be no problem, as all the occupants within them were asleep, and quickly neutralized so they wouldn't wake. Tuvok defeated the lock on the fifth door on his side, a SpecOp team member stepping carefully into the dorm.

“Hey, who are you”, someone yelled from inside, a light suddenly coming on, blinding the two SpecOp men. A phaser blast announced that whoever was inside was armed, and they had killed one of the two SpecOp men.

That had sounded the alarm.

On the far end of the hallway, doors began to open, with surprised, suddenly fully-awake and armed workers facing them. A firefight erupted.

Castro hit his comm badge. “ _Calgary_ , send the reinforcement now, we are under attack!”

In moments, in both the front and back of the building, more forces began to materialize.

* * *

In the front, Brown and his team heard the mayhem erupt toward the middle of the building. They were just heading in that direction, and to an extension on the left with two large doors. There must have been crew quarters there as well, as suddenly the doors swished open, and more armed defenders appeared.

By this time, all hell had broken lose, both in the front and the rear of the building. Janeway's group took cover behind the desk at the front of the building, and behind large potted plants that decorated the area leading to the rear. Within moment, four SpecOp forces were dead on the floor, several more others injured in the fight. It took another five minutes before the invaders began to have the upper hand, the workers at the facility valiantly defending, but no match, in the end, for seasoned troops.

The SpecOp teams surged forward and to the left. As they were moving, another sound caught Seven of Nine's enhanced hearing.

She turned to Brown. “There is indeed a lower level, and I can detect activity below.”

The Commander looked at some of the reinforcements that had arrived. “Sample, ten of you get to that lower level immediately and check it out.”

“Aye, sir!” Then began moving toward the stairway near the turbolifts. Even though surprise was no longer with them, they didn't want to be sitting ducks when the turbolifts open in the floor below.

* * *

In the rear, Castro's team needed about eight minutes to defeat those in the dorms, which emptied out into what had to be prison cells: large, steel doors, with no windows at all, pounding heard on some of them from within. The cells seemed to go down several hallways.

Once in that room, they were met by guards who were patrolling the cell area. There weren't a lot-most had been disabled in the crew quarters in the rear-and they were quickly overwhelmed by the SpecOp forces.

Tuvok, B'Elanna, and now Tom, began to disable the locks. When the doors rose, they could see there was a force-field within the door...and beyond it were former drones, in different stages of assimilation, some obviously had been Borg for a long time, while others were equally obvious that they had only been drones a short time.

They all looked at their rescuers with mouths agape.

Tuvok looked at his friends calmly, but there was a sense of urgency to his words. “We need Seven here as quickly as possible.”

* * *

It took another ten minutes, but the firefight petered out, with many of those who worked at the facility dead, wounded, or incapacitated. Nine SpecOp forces had been killed, another dozen injured in the brief, deadly encounter. Of the former Voyager crew, Tom Paris had suffered from an indirect hit from a phaser, and had an injury to his right leg, but it shrugged it off.

Tuvok had summoned Seven to head to where the XB's were. When she arrived, she had B'Elanna adjust her cortical node, so she could communicate with the XB's in her mind.

She closed her eyes to concentrate. _“I am Seven of Nine, former Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero-One. Do not be afraid. You will not be harmed. We are here to liberate you.”_

The different members of the infiltrators saw the former drone in front of them gape again, knowing perfectly what Seven's designation meant.

“ _I ask all of you to stay clear of the force field. We will be de-activating it momentarily, then you will be taken to a ship to be examined. Please comply.”_

Seven opened her eyes, and saw, with satisfaction, the XB's move away from the door. She nodded to Lieutenant Commander Brown, and he gave the order to defeat the force fields.

As Seven was observing the area, she heard a lone voice among the many.

“ _Seven of Nine...help us!”_

* * *

At the same moment, a summons came for Commander Brown. “ _Commander, Snyder here, sir. You...you need to get down here on the double.”_

Seven turned to Janeway and the others. “The lower level”, she said, terror in her voice. “That's where they...”

Seven stopped and raced toward the lifts to the lower level.

“Seven, wait”, Kathryn said, looking at the others, and following Seven.

“That's where they're experimenting on the XB's!” Torres ran after the other two women, Tuvok, Tom, and the two team leads following.

Seven could barely stand or take a breath, knowing what she might see. Images of how she found Icheb leaped back into her mind, the horror of that day, returning, almost making her physically ill.

As the turbolift doors opened, one member of the SpecOp team pointed to the left, where other troops were standing, ashen-face, in front of open doors. Seven turned into the first room, Kathryn and Brown right behind her.

She stopped in her tracks, seeing the horror in front of her: on the floor, three “doctors”, apparently, lay dead. On five gurneys above their bodies, were the butchered remains of five XB's: skulls opened, eyes ripped out, entrails dislodged, the overwhelming stench of blood, guts and death permeating the air.

Janeway backed off for a moment, else she become violently ill. As she looked back down the hall, she saw Tom and the others following, making a beeline for the door. “Don't...don't go in there!” Her command voice brooked no denial.

Seven fell to her knees, sobs overwhelming her, the carnage in front of her tearing at her soul, remembering Icheb.

“Icheb”, she cried, “I was too late... _again_! Oh, God, I couldn't help them!”

Kathryn heard Seven wail, and despite the smell, re-entered the room, kneeling behind Seven and embracing her from behind. “Shh, Seven, you did everything you could, honey. Think of all the others we just saved.”

Janeway rocked Seven back and forth, trying to calm her, thinking that, here in this horrible room, she and Seven may have finally paid their penance for abandoning each other years ago. The death around them reminded them both, perhaps, what they still had.

Tom, Torres, and Tuvok went to other rooms, seeing the same results, Torres vomiting at the site of more disemboweled XB's, the sight as sickening as the one Seven had seen.

Tuvok entered still another room...

* * *

As Seven was beginning to calm in Janeway's arms, a member of the SpecOp team came racing in. “We found one alive!”

Those words snapped Seven out of her grief, standing up immediately. “Take me there”, she said to the man. She turned around and looked down at Janeway, who was still crouched. She put out her hand. “Come with me, Kathryn”, she said with new strength. Janeway extended her and and took Seven's...not letting go as they went down the hallway.

Seven entered the room, more death clearly visible, but a member of their team was standing by a woman-a blonde woman, who was obviously human, who couldn't have been much older than Seven was when _Voyager_ liberated her from The Collective. The woman was struggling against restraints, her eyes filled with terror. By the look of her implants, she had been a drone for perhaps a few years, but not for two decades, as Seven had been.

Seven leaned over the younger woman, giving her a warm smile, and touching her with her human hand. “I am Seven of Nine, former Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One.”

The woman's eyes went wider, again knowing that Seven had been close to the Queen. “Are...are you hear to...return us to the others?”

Seven's heart broke for the beautiful young lady.

Seven answered that with another question. “What is your human designation?”

The girl looked at her oddly, but obeyed. “I...am Ludmilla Yaszhenko, from Kiev. My Borg designation is...”

Seven shushed her. “Your Borg designation no longer matters, Ludmilla Yaszhenko from Kiev”, she continued with even a warmer smile. “I am Annika Hansen. I am human, and so are you. That is all that matters.”

Seven bent over and kissed the young woman on the forehead, calming her instantly. “You need to rest now. You new life will begin shortly.”

* * *

Captain Kim had the wounded from his team, and among those that were working at the facility beamed aboard the Calgary, along with the XB's who were still alive. Several XB's in the lower level, whom they had found alive, had to be euthanized because they were beyond any hope. The doctors onboard the Calgary treated the wounded, while the former _Voyager_ EMH began to examine the XB's.

On the surface, the SpecOp team were drawing down after the days work. Even with the element of surprise, they had lost good people in killed and wounded, putting a damper on the fact they had saved more than sixty five other living beings.

Kathryn and her _Voyager_ friends were winding down, talking among one another, preparing to board their two ships and depart.

“All of you performed above and beyond”, Janeway said, looking at them with a warm grin. “I'm proud of all of you.”

“I just wish”, Seven began, still shaken-as they all were-by what they had seen, “we had arrived to help the others.”

Seven looked at her friends, as they were still shaken. Even Tuvok seemed troubled by what he saw. As if he were reading her mind, the Vulcan spoke.

“Seven, we accomplished much today. We saved countless lives. And, I must confess to you”, he said in a stark moment of emotion, “that I have never seen anything like I witnessed below, with the butchering of those XB's. I can safely say I understand now, at least to a degree, what you went through with Icheb. I believe Icheb would be proud of your actions today, and how you saved young Ms. Yaszhenko. I think you have rightly avenged Icheb's death.”

A few tears left Seven's eyes. She went up to her Vulcan friend and mentor, and secured him in a hug. Surprisingly, Tuvok reciprocated it without delay. “Thank you, Tuvok”, Seven sad, laying her had on his shoulder for a moment. “I am proud to call you friend.”

She broke the embrace to look at him. He gave he a slight nod. “It is my honor, Seven, to be your friend.”

The other three were misting up. “You two better stop it before I start bawling”, B'Elanna said between a laugh and a cry. She went up to Seven, wrapping her friend in her own comforting hug, again regretting how she had read Seven so wrong on _Voyager_ all those years ago. “Just remember, your Borgness, you're not alone. You never were.” She leaned up and kissed Seven on the cheek.

Tom Paris moved in and kissed her on the other cheek. “Did you know Klingons were such wimps, Seven? I sure didn't.” Seven wrapped Tom in a happy hug, laughing as she did so.

“Your wife is the furthest thing from a wimp, Mr. Paris”, she said, giving him a return kiss on the cheek. “Just a little emotional, that's all.”

Kathryn looked at her former crew with love in her heart, for all of them. She had felt years ago that no one had ever had a finer crew than she did on _Voyager_. She was affirmed in that thought this very moment.

“I'd love for us to continue this group hug”, she said with her own smirk, “but we need to be headed to Vulcan. So let's head...”

Before she finished, heads turned as a phaser blast rang out. Kathryn was hurled backward onto the floor, a smoking, black phaser burn to her chest.

“ _Nooooo!”_ Seven screamed and was immediately next to Kathryn. “Kathryn, no!”

Tuvok hit his comm badge. “ _Calgary_ , Tuvok, lock on Janeway and Seven's signal, and beam directly to sick bay. Janeway has been wounded.”


	7. Chapter 7

VII

**The** _ **Calgary**_ **,** _ **Phantom**_ **, and** _ **Icheb I**_ all left Ganymede as quickly as possible. They headed away at full impulse and to a rarely reconnoitered area near the Kuiper belt, to take stock. The moment they were headed toward the rendezvous point, Sickbay was already mayhem. B'Elanna had piloted the _Icheb I_ solo, Tuvok doing the same for the _Phantom_ , as Paris and Seven had beamed up with Janeway onto _Calgary_. When they reached the stop point, the two smaller ships were put on automatic hover, and everyone was aboard _Calgary_.

“Mr. Paris”, the Doctor ordered **,** forty CC's of Ardrosam-G, the first thing we need to do is get her heart beating again!”

Seven of Nine was standing rigid in a corner of the _Calgary's_ Sickbay, as the former _Voyager_ EMH began to work on Kathryn Janeway.

“Doc”, Tom Paris said as calmly as he could, “she's slipping into neuroleptic shock from the phaser blast.”

“If we can't get her heart started”, the hologram announced, as he took the hypospray from Paris, “then what's the point?” He looked at his monitor, and got a uneven blip on the scream. “Ten more CC's, Mr. Paris.” The next hypospray was in his hand before he got the last words out, Paris anticipating his request.

“That put the heart in rhythm”, the Doctor said with a little satisfaction, now. “Fifty CC's of Synaptizine, now we can work on the neuroleptic shock.”

Seven didn't hear any of the hologram's words. She heard nothing of the noise within the large Sickbay on the _Galaxy Class_ ship, as other members of the Away Team, and a few of those who had defended the XB compound were being treated by four other doctors. It was the usual organized chaos that reigned in such a situation.

All Seven heard, at least now, was the beating of Janeway's heart, which she had always been able to hear when Kathryn was near, even when they were emotionally torn apart. Minutes seemed like hours to the former drone, even with her internal Borg chronometer, which would always be present as long as she had her cortical node.

She and Janeway had been emotionally and physically separated for two decades, because of the stubbornness of both women. It had nearly destroyed both of them, and then they had both nearly destroyed themselves in the intervening years.

The only good thing to come out of Seven's one-woman war in the Alpha Quadrant, in a drive to avenge Icheb's death, was that she had Kathryn had become closer, after so many years of heartache. Now, she could lose Janeway again-this time permanently.

 _You will not leave me now, Kathryn,_ Seven raged at the women, in the depths of her mind. _Not after we've found each other again. I won't allow it._

Yet despite the defiant words in her mind, Seven could do nothing to save Kathryn now. It was all in the hands of their former EMH. She knew The Doctor would go above and beyond to save his former Captain, of that she had no doubt.

The Doctor was now treating the huge phaser burn that had struck Janeway on the right side of her chest, making sure the burns healed properly, and that no infections became apparent. While he was working, Tom moved over to Seven for a moment.

“Seven”, he said softly, but with a firm voice, “are you sure you don't want to sit down in the office? Or maybe in some guest quarters while we work?”

Seven shook her head. “No, thank you, Tom”, she said with a small smile, silently blessing her friend for his concern. “I'll remain here, out of the way, if that's OK. I can't leave Kathryn right now. Remember, you gave me the task of looking after her.” He small smile vanished. “I failed in that assignment, obviously.”

Tom squeezed her shoulder. “We'll discuss that opinion later. I just wanted to make sure you're all right.”

Seven gave him a quick hug. “Thanks, Tom, but I'm OK for now. Get back to work.”

Tom nodded and returned to The Doctor's side.

* * *

In his Briefing Room, Captain Harry Kim was meeting with his commanders that had been on the raid, along with Tuvok and B'Elanna, to go over the details, and prepare to leave for Vulcan.

“I destroyed all their communications systems”, Commander Brown said succinctly. “I was also able to gain information on where their shuttles were. They were located in an underground facility about a thousand meters from the compound, connected by underground walkways, sir. None of them are going anywhere any time soon”, the SpecOp leader said with a smile.

“Did you leave them enough food and other provisions until they can contact Starfleet, Rufus?”

The man nodded to his captain. “Yes,sir. We beamed down the non-perishable foodstuffs that we had ready. They won't starve, and the basic amenities like heat checked out fine before we left.”

“Tuvok?”

“Captain Kim”, Harry's former superior officer said evenly, “Admiral Janeway is undergoing surgery right now. There is no word on her condition, but I can tell you her injuries were severe.”

Harry nodded his head, a lump in his throat forming, and not wanting to leave. The last thing he wanted was for his former captain-a woman that he thought more highly of than any other person in the Universe, to die under his command. He would visit Sickbay when they were en-route to Vulcan.

“How many XB's did we save, and how many, that we know of, who were dead?”

“Fifty-seven XB's were beamed aboard _Calgary,_ Captain”, the Vulcan continued. “There were fourteen that did not survive. Three died in the firefight, and the rest were either dead, or close to death, when we arrived in the...medical area of the station. We had to euthanize five of those below.”

Harry shook his head. “At least they're no longer suffering. It isn't good, but it's better than what they were going through.”

“I concur, Captain”, Tuvok said, with a little more quiet in his voice. As he had told Seven, what he had seen had shaken even his Vulcan emotions. “There was an incinerator in the lower level, obviously to destroy the organic remains of the subjects. With help from Commander Brown's team, we though it best to incinerate the dead XB's.”

“There was also a large area to store bodies in subzero temperatures, Harry”, B'Elanna added. “We put the personnel that worked there who had died, in the freezers. Personally, I might have wanted to incinerate them, but...well, we can't stoop to their level.”

B'Elanna had had her own quiet moment with Seven after they had incinerated the former drones, B'Elanna offering up a Klingon prayer to their souls, while she had her arms around her tall, blonde friend. Gone forever were the days when she felt Seven was no better than a cold, unfeeling automaton. B'Elanna loved Seven in her own way, as much as Janeway, and her heart had shattered seeing the despair on Seven's face in that dungeon.

“Necheyav won't be happy with the raid, but we'll get some brownie points for not burning the workers like they did XB's”, Harry said distastefully. He turned again to Tuvok. “How long do you believe they'll need to to communicate with San Francisco?”

“Given the damage that Commander Brown's forced did to their communications array, I would estimate it will be approximately five days. Those people may be cruel, but they're not unintelligent. At the most, Captain, I would say a week.”

“Five days to a week”, Harry said, almost to himself. He looked to his XO. “Commander Garcia, take the Conn and set a course for Vulcan, Warp 7.5.”

“Aye, Captain”, she said crisply, and left.

“Thank you, everyone”, he said with a small smile-this wasn't the time for pats on the back. “With luck, we can have the XB's on Vulcan, and back to our station at the DMZ before San Francisco figures things out. If you'll excuse me, I need to check up on our casualties that were brought aboard. Dismissed.”

* * *

A few minutes later, Harry entered Sickbay, which had calmed to simply being terribly busy, not the mayhem it had been a short time earlier. The Captain of the _Calgary_ took care of business first.

He approached is Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Louise Bremmen. “Report, Commander Bremmen.”

The doctor had just finished up work on a worker wounded at the facility. “Sir, we've gotten through the most critical patients, and are onto those not as badly injured. Two XB's died after coming onboard, as well as two more SpecOp members, and three of the wounded workers.”

“Admiral Janeway?”

“I didn't work on her, Captain”, she admitted. “I would talk to the EMH. He's quite an amazing doctor, you know?”

Harry allowed a small smile. “I figured that out a long time ago, Louise. Thanks.”

He walked over to his old friend, who had just finished up with the Admiral. Harry had not had the luxury to talk to the EMH after he had beamed aboard. He hadn't seen the Doc in over ten years.

Harry smiled warmly at the hologram, despite the circumstances. “Doc!” He walked up and warmly shook his hand, patting him on the shoulder. “It's good to see you, my friend. I've missed you.”

“Captain Kim”, the photonic man said with his own warm smile, “likewise. It has been a while, hasn't it?”

“Doc”, Harry said with a small smile, “you can simply call me Harry, or Mr. Kim. We go back far too long for you to be saluting me.”

“I don't think I've ever saluted anyone, Mr. Kim”, the Doctor said with a smirk.

“Touche”, Harry said, putting a hand on the Doctor's shoulder and leading him to his office. “How's Kathryn?”

The Doctor heaved a large sigh, even though he didn't have to. “She's going to make it, Harry”, he said, with genuine relief. “She had third-degree phaser burns to her chest, it took a while go get her heart going on her own, but I don't suspect there's any brain damage, and she'll wake up sore as hell, but...one again, Kathryn Janeway defies death.”

“You know your orders when you get to Vulcan, right?”

“I do, Mr. Kim”, the Doctor confirmed. “Since my doppelganger is up and running at Starfleet Medical, and no wiser that I took his job for a while, I'll be able to treat the XB's, at least for the short-term with my Vulcan colleagues. When I boarded, Commander Garcia gave me a message from Vulcan, informing me they're all set to go.”

“Under normal circumstances”, the Captain explained, “I'd probably have Seven go with you, but...I think that might do more harm than good. What do you think?”

“I honestly think, sir, it's a moot point. She isn't going to leave Kathryn. From what little I could pull out of them the last time we talked, they are starting to mend the fences between them, and right now, that's the best medicine for both of them.”

“I agree, old friend”, Harry said. He sighed himself. “Those two are the most stubborn, opinionated, brilliant, and bravest women I've ever met-along with B'Elanna. So many lost chances for them over the years, Doc.” Harry shook his head sadly.

“That is true, Mr. Kim”, the Doctor agreed grimly. “But looking at Seven now.” Both men turned to look at the former drone, who was sitting in a chair next to Janeway, holding her hand. “I believe that you won't be able to separate them much from here on out.”

“Let's hope you're right, Doc.” Harry again shook his hand, then proceeded to approach Seven. The tall blonde didn't hear the Captain of the ship walk up behind her.

“Seven?”

Seven came out of her trance. “Harry?” Then she realized... “I mean, Captain!”

“Right the first time, Seven”, he said with a little laugh. Seven rose and wrapped her dear friend in a strong, loving embrace. “It's good to have you on board, my friend.”

“Harry”, Seven said, tears releasing from her eyes. Harry had pined after Seven himself when she first came on _Voyager_ , Seven thinking for a long time that Harry was kind of nerdy, and his passes laughable. But in time, especially after they had built Astrometrics together, Seven had come to love and cherish her friend in a way that was unique to anyone else she knew. She had seem him develop into a fine officer, and a fine man, on _Voyager_ , and she thanked the stars that she had been blessed with is friendship.  
  
“It's good to see you, too, Captain Kim”, Seven said with a brilliant smile, hugging him again. “I've missed you terribly.”

“We don't have a lot of time this time around, Seven, but I promise you that before we get to Vulcan, we'll sit down and talk a little.”

“I'd like that, Harry”, Seven said, grasping one of his hands.

“How are you holding up?”

Seven shrugged. “Kathryn is gonna make it, which I'm thankful for. I wasn't sure she would when we first beamed onboard. But the Doctor and Tom, well, they did their usual splendid job. It makes me proud to remember what an amazing team we had on _Voyager_.”

“Amen”, Harry said, quietly, then he grabbed both her hands. “You need anything from me, or my crew, just let any of us know. You'll need to get a little rest, but for now, the best place for you is here, next to Kathryn. She'll want to see you when she comes to.”

“Either that or she'll smack me for not jumping in the way of that shot.” They both laughed quietly. “I promise you, I will get a little rest, but right now, I need to be with Kathryn.”

Harry nodded. “I understand my dear. I'll stop by later this evening, and maybe we can have that little talk?”

“Aye, Captain”, Seven said more formally. Harry gave her another hug, kissing Seven on the cheek. Seven watched her longtime friend depart, looking forward to their chat that evening. Maybe he could persuade the others to join them.

* * *

Captain Munshif had the Alpha Shift, as usual. And as usual, there were one or two enemy ships-he had to think of them as that-sniffing around his ship, the _Intrepid_. For his crew, it looked to be just another normal day on “picket duty”, as it used to be called in wars past. Munshif knew otherwise.

His Senior Staff, and most of his mid-level officers had been picked not only by him, but by Sloan at Section 31. Sloan looked for people who were fanatics, for lack of a better word-people who didn't want The Federation to be some mamby-pamby “seek out new worlds” bullshit, as they thought of it. They wanted power: power to dominate; power to determine the course of entire worlds and quadrants; power over life and death. And such fanatics were willing to die for their cause.

Around 1100 Fleet time, two of the Fenris medium-sized attack cruisers headed toward them.

“Captain, two Fenris cruisers, eight thousand kilometers off the starboard bough, heading in toward us.

“Status of their shields and weapons, Helm.”

“Shields are up on both ships, weapons on stand-by only at this time.”

“Ops, any incoming transmissions from those ships?”

“Negative, Captain.”

“Tactical, status of our weapons and shields?”

“Captain, shields at maximum, weapons warmed up.”

Munshif had a few moments to think. Tactical had reconfigured four probes that, when launched, would show the signature and profile of four photon torpedoes set at maximum yield. The Fenris ships would think it was the beginning of a massive attack, and they would, no doubt, act accordingly.

“Mr. Fleming, set up probes, and fire when ready.”

The die was being cast.

* * *

On one of the two ships opposing the namesake of the _Intrepid Class_ Starships was a medium cruiser that the Rangers had bought from the Fenris government. On this ship, Fenris Ranger Commander Ani Besho was at the Conn. She took as many chances on such duty as everyone else. She always said you can't lead from behind, and she wouldn't ask her crew to do any more or any less than she would.

She new the Federation ship's shields were up, which was standard, but was surprised that her weapons were showing hot. In every other encounter, opposing ships had kept their weapons in stand-by, not wanting to have an accidental firing that could trigger a war.

Besho was contemplating putting her weapons online-which could be done in a matter of two seconds, but she hesitated. She would let this Federation vessel play it's little game.

As Commander Besho was ready to ask for a new bearing on the _Intrepid,_ tactical cut in.

“Commander, their ship has fired four high-yield photons, two heading for us, two heading toward the _Osprey_!”

Besho couldn't believe it-they were firing without provocation? She checked her display, and it clearly showed two photon torpedoes headed straight for them, approximately eight seconds away.

“Helm new course 152, mark 345, Tactical lock our photons on them and fire!”

Within two seconds, two photons hurled away from the Rangers ship, as she tried to maneuver away from the bogus photons heading inbound.

As her birds flew true, tactical again reported. “Commander those four photons...they've vanished. They're not there!”

Besho quickly looked at her screen. He was right-where were those damned inbound torpedoes?

* * *

Onboard The _Intrepid_

As Munshif's ship also indicated that the probes had vanished, he played the second part of his mission.

“Fire full spread of photons at both ships”, he said loudly. “Time on inbound photons?”

“Five seconds, Captain!”

He didn't have a religion of any type, but he believed there was something beyond this life of flesh and blood. He and his crew were about to test that theory.

“Tactical-drop shields! All hands, brace for impact!”

* * *

“Where the _fuck_ are those inbounds, Tactical!"

"Sir, they're been re-acquired, they're...gods, they're only probes!”

“What?”

“Only probes, Commander.” A moment later Tactical spoke again. “Commander a spread of real photons inbound! Impact in five seconds!”

Ops was right behind him. “Commander”, he said, looking at her with disbelief. “The enemy vessel has dropped their shields!” Everyone on The Bridge was aghast.

 _Prophets,_ the Bajoran thought to herself, horror sweeping her face, _what was that maniac on the Federation ship doing?_ In the few moments before three torpedoes were to impact her ship, she realized what the game was.

_He suckered us into firing, and is letting his ship get destroyed! He's trying to start a war..._

Besho was finishing that thought when she saw the explosions rock the Federation ship, a tremendous explosion obliterating it. She didn't have the chance to see the disintegration, as two seconds later, all three Federation weapons slammed into her ship, her ship and her crew joining that of the _Intrepid_ in discovering if there was, indeed, something beyond this life.


	8. Chapter 8

VIII

San Francisco, The Next Day

**The Capitol of The Federation** -indeed, the entire Alpha Quadrant-was on edge after the news of the destruction of the U.S.S _Intrepid_ , and Ranger Ani Besho's ship near Fenris, along with the destruction of the Fenris ship _Osprey_. It had stunned virtually everyone, including Admiral Alynna Necheyav. She, unlike Sloan, didn't want a war over Fenris. She simply wanted to get Seven of Nine, and to get the benefits of winning a war without actually fighting one.

Yet the reports that were coming in from Admiral Shelby made her furious. From all accounts-and there was no one alive to refute what had happened-the Fenris defenders had fired on the the Federation ship without provocation. The data retrieved from other ships that had been somewhat close to Fenris, indicated that Captain Munshif had launched four probes-for what reason, no one knew, and then the two defending ships had fired on, and destroyed _Intrepid_.

The most confusing information coming from Shelby-and none of this had been made public yet, because no one knew what the hell had happened-is that _Intrepid's_ shields had suddenly dropped moments before four torpedoes obliterated her.

Shelby, being as far away as she was, could not talk in real time with Necheyav, but had sent a subspace video transmission that Necheyav and her cabal had seen just a few hours ago. Shelby had indicated that nothing had preceded the destruction of the three ships, and, that for the moment, she was of the opinion that the Fenris forces had attacked without provocation. She would await further orders.

“It makes no sense”, Admiral Selvur said, using a Vulcan's known sense of logic. “It serves no interest fore Fenris to open fire on a Federation ship. This disturbs me.”

“Why?” Sloan looked at the man with an impassive face. “If there is going to be a war, better that they fire the first shot, isn't it?”

“I didn't _want_ a war, Sloan”, Necheyav reminded him, grinding the words out. “I wanted to put enough pressure that we capture Seven of Nine, and take her off the board. That way, we can continue forward with reforming The Federation. She is a threat as long as she's out there.”

“Alynna”, Sloan continued, using her first name, which, in front of her colleagues, grated her to no end, “you can't be so naive about such things. Sometimes the only way you can get what you want is to fight for it. This may have to be one of those times.”

Admiral Weinrich shook her head. “I disagree, Mr. Sloan”, she said emphatically. “And I agree with my esteemed colleague-something isn't quite right about this. I certainly didn't expect Fenris to initiate a conflict. They know they can't win.”

“Unless they can get the Klingons involved”, Admiral Adams offered, silencing the room.

Necheyav acknowledged that point. “Chancellor Worf has stated that he would only consider entering a war if we fired on Fenris first. From everything Shelby has told us, they fired on us.”

“If I may”, Captain T'revva spoke up, something she rarely did in these meetings.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Why would Captain Munshif fire four probes out just before the Fenris ships fired?”

The three Admirals present pondered that. Even with what they were trying to accomplish, they liked things to make sense. This didn't make sense.

Sloan kept his poker face on.

* * *

Q'onoS

Chancellor Worf was meeting with the High Council, which he called into session after the events above Fenris. Kurn had not yet left for Earth, so he was in on the meeting as well. As with the Starfleet Admirals, the events at Fenris didn't make sense.

Worf had his Foreign Minister, Grelk read the official report from the Klingon intelligence services. It was just as confusing to them as it was in San Francisco.

“From all accounts, Chancellor, it seems that the Fenris forces started the...battle. Although it was no battle. All three ships were destroyed at the same moment.”

Another member of the Council, a female name Ashavo, spoke next. Worf had ended the out-dated tradition that only men were allowed to sit on the Council. It had met with less resistance than he had anticipated. Ashavo had served on more than one Klingon bird of prey.

She held a copy of the report in her hands. “I simply do not understand the use of probes.” She looked up at all the other members. “What purpose does a probe serve at such close range?”

“None that I can see”, Kurn added quickly. “I have held, as you know, every position on The Bridge of a Klingon ship, and I served in the exchange program on the _Enterprise_ , and I can think of no circumstance that comes to mind, honorable members.”

“Could it be used to draw the fire of the Fenris ships?” Gremlock had never served on a bird of prey, which was rare for a Klingon. He had grown up in a house famous for diplomats that served the Empire.”

Worf had served at Ops and Tactical, both in Starfleet and during the Klingon Civil War with his brother Kurn. “A mere probe, Gremlock, would be easily detected by even a first-year cadet, in the service of just about any military”, Worf explained. He paused for a moment, thinking deeply. “I can think of no valid reason to fire a probe from such a close distance. His sensors should have been able to identify everything the other ships were doing at the time.”

As the Council debated, simply to try and get a clear picture of what had happened, Kurn was deep in thought. As a veteran of the Klingon military, and, as he had mentioned, someone who had served in just about every conceivable role on starships, he didn't understand this any better than the others.

For some reason, his mind wandered back to his days, shortly after the end of the Klingon Civil War, on the U.S.S _, Enterprise_. It had been a rare social visit for Kurn to see his brother again after he had returned to work on the Federation ship. It also gave him a chance to visit the _Enterprise_ crew, whom had so impressed him when he had served for a month in the Klingon/Federation exchange program.

 _In the Conference Room on the_ Enterprise, _Commander Kurn, Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Worf, and Lieutenant Commander Data were discussing diversionary tactics that could be used in battle._

“ _I was able to use use the deflector array, combined with a modified tachyon pulse to present a false image of another ship against one of the ships loyal to Duras. It had the effect of making that p'taq think for a few extra seconds as he approached, and I was able to fire first, and force him to retreat.”_

_Commander Data's eyebrows went up. “Fascinating, Commander”, the android said in his usual fashion. “Not long ago, with the Captain's permission, I worked on some 'war games' with Worf and Commander Riker, in which, in theory, we were able to do something similar, but by a far different method.”_

_Kurn was drinking a Romulan Ale at the time. He hated the Romulans, but he thought their ale was the best in the Galaxy, illegal or not. “May I ask what this theory was, Commander?”_

“ _Of course, sir”, Data nodded. “We theorized that we had detected an enemy on long-range sensors, and had already concluded that we were outnumbered, and had no way to receive reinforcements. With this theory, Commander, we programmed a bank of six probes, that had been re-calibrated. We were able to verify on the holodeck that, calibrated correctly, the six probes, formed up in pairs of two, would put out a signature of three other Federation vessels on their sensors. They would not know otherwise if, and until, they were in visual range of the_ Enterprise.”

“ _We ran a series of computerized war games on the Holodeck”, Riker added, “where we were up against Cardassian forces. We programmed in known Cardassian tactics and what they taught their commanders. Each time we ran it, the Cardassian force backed off before reaching us.”_

Kurn's eyes clicked, thinking back on that conversation.

“Could that be it?”

Conversation stopped around him.

“Ambassador Kurn”, Worf said with a small, curled smile, “do you wish to add something to our discussion?”

Kurn then explained to the Council about that conversation. Worf had been present. His face became animated.

“I remember that, brother”, Worf said, dropping formalities for a moment. “Data and I never got to use the theory, but you are right. Every time we ran the scenario, the Cardassians backed off and retreated.”

The others didn't quite get it.

Kurn looked at all of them, not sure if he was one-hundred percent correct, but this was a delicate situation, and any ideas would be helpful.

“From what Data and Worf did”, he explained, “they could, as Picard said at the time, 'throw shadows' at their enemy and confuse them.” Everyone in the room regarded Picard as a formidable man, and a true warrior.

The Chancellor looked at the Ambassador to finish the thought. “What if the Federation ship reprogrammed those probes to look like torpedoes on the other ships' censors?”

That stopped the room cold.

* * *

_These are the times I wish I had Data to talk to,_ Jean-Luc Picard said grimly. The news out of Fenris had shaken him, like everyone else. The Quadrant now stood on the knife's edge of a major war.

He was back in France, with Deanna Troi. Will was currently in San Francisco, wakened in the middle of the Spanish night with the news of the encounter. He had immediately been contacted by Ed Jellico, and asked to come back to the bay area, to put their heads together with Owen Paris and Mike Patterson.

“It makes no sense, Deanna”, Picard said, with Elnor and Soji close by, but not within easy earshot of the other two. “Fenris has nothing to gain by attacking Federation ships.”

“A rouge commander?”

“Possible”, Picard offered. “But I've read up on Ani Besho, the Commander of the Rangers. It doesn't fit her background or her normal M/O. Perhaps the other ship had a rogue commander? I just don't know. And I can't imagine this coming down from the Prime Minister of Fenris.”

“Have you ever met Prime Minister Sladek, Jean-Luc?”

“I've read up on him, but no, I have not met him.”

“I met him several years ago”, Deanna advised him. “He was at a conference on San Francisco, oddly enough on how to handle internal Federation discord. He is a very astute, highly intelligent man, who is much more than he seems. He fought in the Cardassian war, not on Federation ships, but with Fenris forces. He received numerous honors for heroism. He's not to be trifled with.”

“I've often felt, Deanna”, Picard mused, “that any man in his right mind, that has fought in war, would not seek to initiate one. There are always exceptions to that rule...”

“But maybe he's not the same man I met, or he's changed, or I mis-read him?”

“You”, Picard quipped, “mis-read someone? Not likely.”

Deanna nodded. “True”, she said with a small smirk, “but people do change.”

Picard shook his head. “That is possible, but reading up and watching events on this crisis since the beginning, Sladek has been most cautious, and most forthright, even with Admiral Shelby, who he has to see as a potential enemy.”

“What do you believe happens next?” Deanna poured Picard a refill on his ice tea.

“I'm frankly not sure, Deanna”, Picard said grimly. “If this were a power from outside the Quadrant, I would think we'd already be at war, but Necheyav hasn't said anything publicly. I think everyone's taking a small breath here, to see if this was some kind of accident.”

“An accident”, Troi said skeptically, “with three ships being blown to bits?”

“It's possible”, Picard pointed out, although his heart wasn't exactly in it.

Troi suddenly had a thought. “We talked about a rouge Captain. What if...what if the captain of the _Intrepid_ was the rogue?”

Picard's head snapped up, staring at his former ship's Counselor. It was obvious to Deanna, even without her empathic abilities, that Jean-Luc Picard had not even considered that.

* * *

Onboard _Voyager_ , Near Fenris

Admiral Elizabeth Shelby was sick to her stomach. She had seen loss under her commands before-that simply went with the territory of being a commander on a ship that did dangerous things. But this? This made absolutely no sense to her. She not only grieved for the one-hundred and eighty people on the _Intrepid_ , but for the over three-hundred lives snuffed out on the Fenris ships.

 _What the fuck happened out there?_ That thought kept slicing through her mind.

She called in her Senior Staff in the middle of the night, shortly after the event occurred, for a conference of war.

“I'm sorry that I had to wake you, but the news of the Intrepid, and the two Fenris ships that were destroyed requires our immediate attention.”

She looked around at her senior Ops, Tactical, Helmsman, Astrometrics officer, and Engineer. All were veterans with impeccable service records. All of them looked as grim as she did. The first reports simply were too stunning to figure out. She had given each department head time to check in with their staffs, many who had been waken as well, to start pulling in preliminary information.

Naturally, she turned first to her First Officer, Captain Nokolas Stavros, who was the titular commander of _Voyager_ , and who, as an Ensign years ago, had earned many of The Federation's highest honors during the Dominion War.

“Nick, can you tell me what we've learned?”

“Admiral, all indications that we see are that the Intrepid was attacked without provocation. Telemetry that we were able to collect shows all three ships in standard patrol patterns, keeping a decent distance form each other, with shields up. _Intrepid_ did have her weapons active, but there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. The two Fenris ships had their weapons on stand-by, which has been standard for Fenris forces during the blockade.”

Next her younger Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Lucy Prentiss, who had only graduated from the Academy five years earlier, but had impressed since her first day at the Academy, added her information.

“Admiral, the only thing out of the ordinary was the launching of four probes from the _Intrepid_. So far, we've found no reason for that, and we've seen nothing out out of the ordinary in the probes that were launched. It was, however, within moments of the launch of those probes that the Fenris ships fired on Intrepid, and Intrepid responded.”

“The other mystery is that Intrepid's shields dropped just moments before the inbound enemy torpedoes destroyed the ship”, her Ops Officer, Ensign Yussa Jebi, a Bajoran, informed her. “We don't know why they dropped. It could be a malfunction, or someone entered a wrong command. Right now, it's a mystery.”

“Unlikely that someone keyed in wrong information”, Captain Stavros commented, “but we can't discount anything while investigating this.”

“People, I know we just received this information within the hour, but you're on duty as of this moment. I want you to scour everything we can find on this. I want some answers. Why did the Fenris ships fire, apparently unprovoked? Why were probes launched? Why did the shields drop? All of this may be a sad case of things simply going wrong at the worst possible moment, but I don't buy that. I've already sent a preliminary report to Starfleet Command, but advised them this information is very preliminary.”

She looked around at her troops, knowing they were good people, who would go above and beyond. “Let's get some fresh coffee going throughout the ship, and let's get to work.”

* * *

Like everyone else, Fenris Prime Minister Cyan Sladek was at a loss. None of this made any sense. It certainly made no sense because of the fact that Commander Ani Besho had been the one patrolling near the _Intrepid_. She had been a cautious, intelligent, and resourceful officer her whole career. In his mind, Sladek could see no circumstance where Besho would fire first.

Now she was dead. He had called in his military C-in-C, his Chief of Staff, and Qochur, whom he knew would probably be named the new Rangers Commander. Thinking of that, he was certain that if Seven of Nine were on Fenris, she would probably have taken command. No one had heard from Seven in several months.

As he waited for his advisers, he had pondered sending a message to Admiral Shelby, whom he had come to know a little over the last few months. Despite the fact that Shelby, right now, was not an ally, he had come to respect her and the honesty she had shown to him. He had sensed that she found some of this distasteful, but he respected her, as a soldier who had taken an oath, to faithfully carry out the orders of her superiors.

He had decided not to do so. One, sending a message so quickly would perhaps make it look like this had been choreographed from Fenris, with the truth being that, like everyone else in the Quadrant right now, Sladek had no idea what had happened. Secondly, doing so would probably be counter-productive, as the information received, at least for now, showed that Besho had let loose an unprovoked attack.

He had called his Foreign Minister, waking the man up in the middle of the night, and asking him to draft for his approval, a message to the Klingon High Council, and Chancellor Worf. He didn't want the aid of the Klingons at the moment, but since The Federation certainly wouldn't share information their intelligence services had, he was hoping that the Klingons could perhaps shed some light on events.  
  
He was not looking forward to the next few days. It could mean the end of his people and his planet.

* * *

Onboard The _Phantom_

Seven of Nine was alone onboard the _Phantom_ , as Kathryn Janeway was still recovering in _Calgary's_ Sickbay from her injuries. Janeway had nearly been killed when a guard at the XB facility on Ganymede, unaccounted for after the firefight had died out, had shot her with his phaser as he hid in a doorway. Fortunately, Kathryn would survive.

Seven would have rather been there with Janeway, helping her through the recovery from her injuries. Yet this ship, as well as the _Icheb I,_ both which had been built on Covis III, needed to get to Vulcan. B'Elanna Torres was piloting the other ship, as Tom Paris remained onboard the _Calgary_ as a medic, and Tuvok was still there, helping to advise Captain Kim.

The trip had been uneventful so far. Seven and B'Elanna had passed sometimes talking to each other on a highly encrypted video transmission, where they tried to keep things light between them, and look to the future.

“I need to thank you again, B'El”, Seven said sincerely, “for the comfort you gave me on Ganymede. If you and Kathryn had not been there...I think I would have fallen to pieces.”

“No sweat, Blondie”, the half-Klingon woman said with a tender smile. “What we saw down there...you know I was held in a Cardassian prison, and what I saw at Ganymede was just as bad. I wanted to snap one of those so-called 'doctors' neck.”

“I know, but I'm glad you didn't”, Seven said, even though she felt the same way. “I do believe it has help me come to terms with how I found Icheb.”

“It felt good rescuing Ludmilla, didn't it?” Torres face now had a full smile on it.

“It did”, Seven agreed, smiling at her former detractor, now perhaps her dearest friend. “Had we not found anyone alive, I might have reacted differently afterward, but...she's got a chance now. I may want to keep in touch with her.”

“She may need your guidance, Sev”, B'Elanna said seriously. “You had no one to really guide you-no one who had been through what you had been through. It might help her a lot.”

Seven pondered for a moment. “Perhaps after all this is over, I can serve by helping as many XB's adapt to freedom, and counsel them while they try to make a life for themselves?”

B'Elanna approved of that. “Maybe I'll help you, Seven”, she said, not having thought of the idea before. “It would be nice if we could help integrate them back into society.”

“I've seen enough death, B'Elanna-and I know you have, too. If I can still rescue XB's, I won't hesitate, but I think part of my penance may be to reclaim lives, not terminate them.”

“I think Icheb would be proud of you for that, Sev”, B'Elanna added softly, touched by her friend's determination. “He'd be proud.”

“I miss him, so much to this day, B'Elanna”, she lamented, a few tears escaping.

“Keep him in that beautiful heart of yours, Seven, and he'll always live.”

As they went silent for a few moments, they both received an incoming transmission from _Calgary_ , within moments of each other.

Torres rolled her eyes, looking at Seven on the screen. “What does Harry want now?” Both women laughed.

“Maybe he wants to play the clarinet for us so we're not lonely?” That made them both laugh even louder.

The laughing ended as they scanned the message. “Holy shit, Seven...”

“My God”, the former drone said in shock, reading the communication, verbatim. “ _Intrepid_ destroyed in firefight near Fenris. Two Fenris ships, including that commanded by Rangers Commander Ani Besho destroyed. No survivors from any of the three ships.”

Like everyone else in a now very troubled Quadrant, Seven and B'Elanna now wondered if they would be in a shooting war that would engulf both the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.


	9. Chapter 9

IX

**Ambassador Kurn was making** a clandestine trip near Fenris, which he knew was dangerous, but the confusing telemetry in the aftermath of the encounter near that planet, that had left three ships destroyed, required some sleuthing on his part. There was too much at stake for information to simply be gathered from distant data.

He would meet first with Prime Minister Sladek, and garner information from the Fenris Government, then he would meet with Admiral Shelby aboard _Voyager_. No one besides the three principles knew of the meeting. It would be a one-on-one with both the Prime Minister and then the Admiral. In his private message to both, on behalf of Chancellor Worf, he offered his services, as a neutral, to try and determine what had happened.

His first stop was the Fenris Capitol. Arriving there, he was not surprised to see the Fenris military in the streets, keeping order, and setting up defensive arrangements. That was prudent, after the events of several days ago. Yet despite the preparations, the Capitol city seemed relatively calm, people trying to go about their business.

All of this he witnessed from inside the Prime Minister's office, overlooking the vast city. He had beamed into the office from his cloaked scout ship that had been given permission to deposit him on the surface.

Sladek approached him as he materialized. “Ambassador Kurn”, Sladek said warmly. He had met the man many years earlier, their paths crossing during the Dominion War. “It has been a long time.”

“Mr. Prime Minister”, Kurn replied, respectfully bowing his head. “It has indeed. I wish it was under more auspicious circumstances.”

“I agree, but your offer to assist both sides is appreciated, Ambassador.”

They took their seats, two men, from different worlds, who had fought in war, and despite their heritage, now wanted to work to avoid it. After pleasantries, they began to discuss the events for the visit. Twenty minutes into the interview, neither still had firm grasp of what had taken place. The Prime Minister shared with Kurn the raw telemetry, and the summary of the information that the Defense Ministry had put together. The experts there had no better idea what had happened, anymore than others around the Quadrant.

Kurn then floated what he and Worf had talked about in front of the High Council. He recounted again his long-ago discussion with his brother, Lieutenant Commander Data, and Commander Riker aboard the _Enterprise_. He would deliver the same observation to Shelby.

The Prime Minister looked as stunned as the members of the High Council had been.

“Are you saying”, the Prime Minister replied, his eyes wide in shock, “that there's a possibility that the Captain of the _Intrepid_ did this on purpose?” He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. “That's...truly, what are the chances of such a thing, and why do it?”

“Prime Minister, as you know”, Kurn offered, “as they say on Earth, sometimes the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. There may be other people within The Federation who do not answer to Admiral Shelby, or even Admiral Necheyav.”

“Who else could be influencing him.”

“Again, Mr. Prime Minister, I offer no proof, but have you ever heard of what is called, Section 31?”

“The mythical group inside The Federation? I have never believed such stories.”

“The Romulans had the _Tal Shiar_ , and there was nothing mythical about that group. The Cardassians, even in our own Empire, there have been splinter groups that tried to undermine the status quo by deceit and violence. Why should The Federation be different?”

“Then what your suggesting, and I know all of this is hypothetical, Ambassador, is that someone, inside The Federation, is acting independently, or at least covertly, of Admiral Necheyav and the Federation President, and is trying to alter events?”

“Alter events”, Kurn observed, “or setting into motion events that would change the status quo more favorable to them.”

“I have been concerned, over the last several years, Ambassador Kurn, about the growing militarism within The Federation, but I always thought Necheyav was the driving force behind that.”

“To a degree, Prime Minister, you are correct, but our intelligence services believe there are...other, more sinister, and more dangerous forces working either independently of Necheyav, or using the Admiral to eventually move power away from the Admiral.”

“A _coup_?”

Kurn nodded. “Possible, or”, he offered, “it is possible that whoever is driving events knowingly works with Necheyav, and visa-versa, but Necheyav is not aware of all they are, or all they want to obtain.”

The Prime Minister looked aghast. “The Master teaches the apprentice, and then the Apprentice becomes the Master.”

“Precisely, Prime Minister.” There was brief silence. “I will be taking this message to Admiral Shelby as well. I will have to, as they say, soft-peddle it a little, but if I see data similar to what you have, I think I can convince Shelby that it is a possibility. Beyond that, I can do no more.”

“I appreciate your efforts, Ambassador Kurn”, he said, still shaken by the possibility. “I will tell you that our mutual friend Qochur has been named the new Commander of the Rangers. I understand you and the Chancellor both know him.”

“He is an honorable, brave, and dependable person, Prime Minister. Perhaps, when cooler heads prevail, I will be able to see him again.”

Kurn took his leave of the Prime Minister, boarding his ship, and heading toward his meeting on _Voyager_ with Elizabeth Shelby.

* * *

San Francisco

For the first time in a few weeks, Admiral Edward Jellico called together his three major allies in the growing struggle against Necheyav, and this man Sloan. It was all but certain Sloan was the head of Section 31, although there was still no proof they could lay their hands on. The four Admirals were confounded, like everyone else, with events near Fenris.

“Why in God's name”, Mike Patterson said, “would a Ranger shoot first at a Federation ship?” He was still highly agitated about what had occurred.

“Who knows, Mike”, Owen Paris said with some annoyance. “Does that even matter now? We've got the possibility of a real war on our hands now, not just a theoretical one.”

Jellico immediately turned to Riker. “Will, I know you and Picard recently talked to Ambassador Kurn. What do you believe the Klingons will do at this juncture.” Jellico tried to always read between the lines, and look for something that might not be obvious. It was what had made him one of the more effective negotiators that The Federation had ever had.

“If it's true, and Fenris did fire the first shot, I don't think Worf will move”, he said honestly. “He is not going to attack The Federation if Fenris has just started a war. He's not even going to attack The Federation, I believe, if Necheyav started the war. He will put a show of force at the Federation/Klingon border, but unless we would strike them, they won't strike back."

“You said 'if'”, Jellico responded, playing Devil's Advocate.

Will shifted uncomfortably. “There is the strange occurrence of _Intrepid_ sending out four probes immediately before the battle began.”

“What are you saying, Will”, Owen countered. “The Rangers and that Fenris ship had to know a probe isn't a torpedo. That would be a mistake even the greenest Cadet wouldn't make.”

“I just know-hell, we all know, that that isn't standard procedure. Why fire probes when you're that close to two ships? Maybe they weren't meant for those ships? Maybe he was baiting them, and they were stupid enough to take the bait? I don't know, but it's damned strange.”

As they were arguing, one of Jellico's aid contacted him via a hail. He went into his study to see what was up, while the other three men continued their musings.

“Maybe it's time we mobilize our fleet, to let Necheyav know that if we go to war against Fenris, that there will be a Federation Civil War?”

Will shook his head. “It's too soon for that, Owen”, he said plainly. “The fact that, as far as we can tell, Necheyav hasn't ordered an attack on Fenris could mean she doesn't want a war, only the spoils of a war.”

“Getting things cheap?” Patterson looked over at Owen Paris after saying that. “But hell, they fired first. In her shoes, I'd be launching an attack right now.”

“Maybe Sloan is again the wild card”, Owen offered. “He could be staying her hand, and telling her to let things simmer down.”

“Or he could be the one pushing for a conflict, and Necheyav doesn't want to?”

“You could be right, Will”, Patterson responded. “But how do we find out.”

Jellico came back into the room. “Maybe it's time we round up Mr. Sloan and interrogate him”, he said, sitting back down.

“You're kidding me, Ed?” Riker knew the man was ballsy, but...

“No I'm not”, he countered with a voice of stone. “Besides, I just got some other news, which might mean we should bring in Sloan and hold him.”

“What news?”

He looked at Owen Paris, then smiled icily. “I just received word from Tuvok: they found an XB facility on Ganymede, and freed those being held. According to Tuvok, they completely destroyed their communications ability, so it'll be a while before Necheyav finds out.”

“There's more”, Owen said, reading the man's face.

Jellico nodded. “Janeway was seriously injured. They are on Vulcan now, and she's being treated, and will recover.”

The other three let out a sigh of relief, all of them, for their own reasons, very fond of Kathryn Janeway.

“I think you're right, Ed”, Riker said after hearing that news. “Let's grab Sloan.”

“Before we adjourn, I'd like to run by you of who I think should interrogate the son-of-a-bitch.”

* * *

Vulcan

Upon Landing, the XB's were immediately taken to the secret facility where the former _Voyager_ EMH, and Vulcan physicians would begin treating and rehabilitating those beings. The first part would be to determine the extent of surgery that was needed on each former drone, then begin the process of physical and psychological rehabilitation.

Seven had promised that she would lend her expertise to the process, but she had a personal matter to attend to first.

Kathryn Janeway had taken virtually the whole trip to fully regain consciousness, after her narrow escape on Ganymede. Even with The Doctor's quick work once aboard _Calgary_ , seeing Kathryn so terribly wounded had shaken her like nothing since Icheb had died. She had tried to keep an air of little concern-not for Kathryn's health, but for her belief that The Doctor would patch her up. Inside, she had vomited later in her guest quarters, and spent a while sobbing in the aftermath of the Ganymede operation. Her crying was in part for the gruesome scene in the lower level of that facility, and in part because Kathryn had come too close to being killed.

The Doctor made sure Seven was present when Kathryn fully woke, as was Captain Kim. As Janeway opened her eyes, fully conscious for the first time since the shooting, she looked around, and almost immediately saw the tender, brilliant smile of Seven of Nine.

“Seven?”

“Kathryn”, Seven said with a shaky breath. “Welcome on board the _Calgary_. It is...a relief to see you awake.”

“What happened to me?”

Seven sat in a chair close to Janeway's biobed. “Just before we headed back to our ship on Ganymede, a guard that was unaccounted for shot you with his phaser. That was three days ago.”

“I was shot...” She tried to sit up. Seven steadied her former captain, while the Doctor moved the bed into a sitting position.

“Yes you were”, the Holographic Doctor advised, smiling as he came into her view. “And, naturally”, he began with his legendary smug speech, “thanks to my incredible skill, you're on your way to a full recovery.” He winked at Janeway, letting her know he was trying to make her laugh, which she lightly did. Then he, too, became serious. “I am glad you still haven't used up all your lives, Kathryn.” He gently laid a hand on hers.

“As always, Doctor, thank you. I'm glad you were here.”

Next Harry smiled down on her. “Hey Admiral, glad you could join us.”

“Harry”, she said, with a small tear in her eye, so proud of this man, who had grown into his manhood on _Voyager_. “Just like old times, huh?”

Harry laughed. “Situation normal, Captain”, he said. “You did have us worried for a while.”

“I'll report for duty as soon as I can, Captain”, Kathryn said, firmly grabbing his hand and squeezing. “I promise.”

“Not until I say so”, The Doctor interjected. “Then again, you never were one to listen to my advice.”

“I will this time, Doctor”, Janeway said with a smile, “but can I at least be released to my guest quarters? I could use a good night's sleep.”

“I don't see why not”, the photonic man said, running a medical tricorder over her for good measure. “But you are on forty-eight hour rest. We're on Vulcan, and you don't need to commanding anything. Is that clear?”

“Crystal, Doctor”, she said with a nod. “Seven, would you escort me? And perhaps you can round up Tuvok, Tom, and B'Elanna so we can quietly talk.”

Seven nodded. “Before we do that, Captain Kim does have some news to impart.” She looked over at her friend.

Harry nodded. “While you were recovering, we received news that there was a firefight above Fenris.” Kathryn held her breath. “The _Intrepid_ was destroyed, along with a Fenris cruiser, and a Fenris Ranger ship...being commanded by Ani Besho. There were no survivors on any of the ships.”

Janeway lowered her head, taking a steadying, calming breath. “Has war broken out?”

Harry shook his head. “Not yet. All indications are that no one expected this, and everyone's trying to figure out what the hell happened.”

“That's good.” She turned to Seven. “I know you were friends with Commander Besho, Seven.” She again grabbed Seven's hand. “I'm so very sorry.”

“As am I, Kathryn”, Seven said softly. “However, before we gather the others, and talk about Fenris, I demand you take a long nap.”

“But I just woke up”, Kathryn said crossly.

“Irrelevant”, Seven said with a twinkle in her eyes. “You must comply, or I'll kick your ass, Kathryn.”

Everyone around them within earshot laughed.

“Since you put it that way, I will offer no resistance.”

Twenty minutes later, with the assist from a sedative from The Doctor, Janeway was back to sleep in her VIP quarters, Seven remaining watch in the living room of the expansive abode.

* * *

Aboard _Voyager_

“Ambassador Kurn”, Admiral Shelby said, stepping away from the transporter controls. She was the only one in the transporter room to meet the Ambassador. “Welcome to _Voyager_.”

Kurn towered over the diminutive Admiral as she approached him, extending his hand in the human custom. “Admiral Shelby, thank you. I know you are risking a lot meeting with me clandestinely, but I thank you for seeing me in this difficult hour.”

“My First Officer knows you are here, Ambassador, but no one else in the crew is aware of your presence. They were simply told that a classified emissary was coming to discuss the situation with me.”

“I am sorry you had to lie to your crew like that”, meaning every word, “but what I will be telling you is...delicate.”

“I understand, Ambassador.” She then addressed the computer, “Computer two to transport to the Admiral's quarters, Authorization Shelby pi-2-6-1-zeta. Erase all traces of this transport from all longs and sensors.”

“ _Authorization accepted. There will be no records of this transport.”_

In moments, the two people were in the Admiral's quarters. Once there, the Admiral gave a further command to the computer. “Computer, enable a level ten force field and a level ten sound barrier around the Admiral's quarters, Authorization Shelby beta-alpha-6-1-7.”

“ _Level 10 force field, and level 10 sound barrier enabled, per orders of Admiral Elizabeth Shelby.”_

She gave a smirk to the Ambassador. “That gives us an extra layer of privacy.”

Shelby had already arranged the table in her room so they both had drinks. They jumped right into it.

“By the urgency of your request, Ambassador, I assume this has to do with the brief battle the other day?”

“It does, Admiral Shelby”, Kurn said gravely. “However, first the Chancellor has asked me to give you his personal greetings, his memory of your distinguished service aboard the _Enterprise_ is still something he remembers well.”

Shelby had been incredibly impressed with now-Chancellor Worf when she was assigned to the _Enterprise_ during the Borg incursion. One reason she was willing to accept Kurn today was the fact that they had served together for a short while.

“When you see him again, please, give him my respects, and thank him for his kindness, Ambassador.”

Kurn went right to business. “As you know, Admiral, one thing that has confounded everyone-and I am sure it confounds you, and Admiral Necheyav, as it does Prime Minister Sladek, is the firing of four probes just before the exchange ensued. I have commanded my own ships in combat, as you know, and it does not make much sense.”

Shelby sighed. “That has confounded us, too, Ambassador. It makes no sense, but as I'm sure you know, a probe is easily distinguishable from a torpedo. Sensors immediately know the difference between the two.”

“In normal situations, I agree, Admiral.” He then delved again, into the story of his conversation with Data, Riker, and Worf all those years ago on the _Enterprise_. Their exchange over fooling another ship's sensors was nothing new, but usually, it didn't involve anything more than computer-generated magic. Shelby's face grew grim as the import of what Kurn was saying hit her.

“Are you suggesting that Captain Munshif...reprogrammed his probes to resemble photon torpedoes when launched.” Her face was red, her voice had slowly risen.

“I am suggesting it is a possibility, Admiral”, Kurn said calmly, having many situations like this before. “As you said yourself, and I agree, a first-year Cadet could distinguish between a normal probe and photon torpedo. Their signatures are unique. Yet both _can_ be modified for other uses, can they not? Commander Data showed me his work, and even demonstrated it on one of the _Enterprise's_ holodecks. It is possible to change the modify the signature of a probe to look like a Torpedo coming out of its launch tube.”

Shelby's looked changed from angry to stunned. Yes, she knew such things were possible, but for the life of her, she couldn't imagine why such a thing would have been done.

“Perhaps, Admiral”, Kurn said as gently as a Klingon could, “that Captain Munshif was answering not to you, or Admiral Necheyav, but to someone else? Perhaps Section 31.”

She eyed him with a hard look. “You know of Section 31?”

“Section 31 is perhaps the worst kept secret, yet the most effectively-cloaked entity in the Galaxy. People are certain it exists, but have never been able to prove it. I do not know myself, but with so much on the line-a war that would not stay near Fenris, and could entangle the Empire, all options must be considered.”

One word came to Shelby's mind, but she dare not say it out loud.

_Sloan_

She had never liked Necheyav's “adviser”, and didn't trust him either. She knew that much. Something about him just didn't add up. Could he be the head of Section 31? If so, was there a chance he could have his own people in place within The Federation?

“Ambassador, if Commander Data's work has been preserved-and if it is in the Federation database, I can run his theory myself.” Shelby asked the computer to run an inquiry of what Data had proposed, to see if it was in the database.

It was.

Again, under concealment, the Admiral and the Ambassador transported to Holodeck 2, and ran the simulation more than one time. Kurn advised her he recognized the program immediately. It was proved, beyond doubt, that it was possible to configure a probe to resemble a photon torpedo. Shelby even knew now what to look for.

They returned to her quarters, Shelby shaken by what was a possible subterfuge by Section 31. “Ambassador, are you going to be in the area the next few days?”

Kurn nodded his head. “I am. I will give you the coordinates of where my ship will be cloaked, which will be far outside the Fenris exclusion zone, I assure you.”

“I want a day or two to run some scans on what happened in that battle. I now know what to look for, and I believe I can confirm or refute this possibility. I will only allow my First Officer to monitor the scans and tests. If what you suspect is true...”

“It puts all of us in a bind, Admiral', he said, finishing her thoughts. “If this is true, then someone could be trying to start a war deliberately. Again, it is only theory, but Commander Besho was no rookie commander. She has a long, distinguished career, first in Starfleet, then as a Ranger. I do not believe she would attack unprovoked.”

The Ambassador was beamed back to his ship, which immediately headed to the coordinates Kurn had given Shelby.

Elizabeth Shelby was almost shaking when she summoned her First Officer to her quarters a few minutes later.

* * *

The next day, Kathryn Janeway was granted permission to go to Tuvok's home on Vulcan, simply to relax and enjoy some fresh, albeit warm, Vulcan air. T'Pel told Kathryn in quite clear terms that she was to relax-no gardening, no sight-seeing. She was to take it easy.

To make sure Kathryn behaved, T'Pel convinced Tuvok to allow Seven of Nine to delay her work at the new XB hospital, so she could look after Janeway as well.

Kathryn was sitting in a chair on a patio that was adjacent to T'Pel's garden, reading through some pads about the latest events. She stopped for a moment to ponder her part in these events, thankful that she had been spared once again.

Like the others, she had never seen anything so vile, and so sickening as the blood-drenched “surgery” rooms on Ganymede, with parts of Borg implants, and parts of bodies lying everywhere, the overwhelming stench of blood and death permeating even their clothing. To think that anyone, let alone anyone in The Federation, could participate in such barbarism had made her physically ill.

Kathryn remembered lecturing Seven about her actions on Freecloud, the Cardassian prison, and the Ferengi outpost, demanding to know if Seven really felt all those people deserved dying because of how Bjayzl had cut up Icheb. At the time, Kathryn couldn't fathom what seven has done.

As if on cue, Kathryn's silent musings were interrupted.

“Kathryn”, the cool voice of Seven made her look up.

Kathryn smiled. “Seven, what brings you here? I thought you were at the XB hospital.”

“I was”, the former drone said, taking a seat next to Janeway, “but T'Pel convinced Tuvok that you needed someone to make sure you weren't doing anything strenuous so soon after recovering. He thought I'd be the best bodyguard for you in that respect.”

Kathryn lightly laughed. “I'm sure The Doctor concurred with that assessment.”

Seven smiled and snickered. “The Doctor was begging Tuvok to send me-that's how little her trusts you.”

Kathryn laughed once more. “The Doctor is one smart hologram”, she said as they both chuckled. Janeway became serious. “How are you doing, now that we're far away from Ganymede?”

Seven looked down briefly, then back up at Kathryn. “I was going to ask you that, since you almost died, but since you asked first...I'm still so fucking mad at what I saw, Kathryn. That such...inhumanity still exists in this Galaxy is beyond heartbreaking. The relief I felt in rescuing Ludmilla is the only thing that has kept me from completely going off the deep end.”

“It's funny you mention that, Seven”, Janeway observed. “Just before you got here, I was thinking back to one of the first conversations we had after we tracked you down. I questioned you, rather harshly, about the price others paid for Bjayzl's actions in the past, and that all those people didn't need to die in a quest for revenge.” Janeway looked into Seven's blue eyes. “I think now I was wrong to chastise you, looking back on it.”

Seven sat up a little straighter, her eyes widening in surprise. “Really? I thought you were correct in taking me to task, Kathryn.”

“Sensibilities can fall by the wayside when you witness something as utterly gruesome as we saw on Ganymede, Seven. Yes, Bjayzl is the reason Icheb died, of that there's no doubt, but seeing that barbaric dungeon is a reminder that not everything is black and white. As far as I'm concerned, everyone in that place deserves to be locked up for life, maybe even worse.”

“That's exactly what those butchers had done to Icheb, Kathryn”, Seven said, losing some of her composure. “They cut up my son, used no anesthetics, and left him to suffer and die alone. To think that someone that I thought...loved me”, now she shook, remembering Bjayzl's betrayal, “is one thing that will never leave my soul.”

“Seven”, Janeway said, moving her chair a little closer to the blonde, putting her hand on Seven's arm, which was propped up on the armrest, “I can't imagine how that must feel, and to know that, in my own way, I did something similar to you, in abandoning you, when you needed me-when we needed each other-fills me with so much pain. You deserved none of that: Chakotay's death; Icheb's murder; my abandoning you. I am so sorry for the pain I have caused you over the years.”

Seven reached out and embraced Kathryn, both of them sobbing over the bitterness of the past, that had finally led them to this moment on Vulcan. So much pain, and grief, and regret came pouring out of the two women, as they desperately clung to one another, realizing that this moment, while not quite an absolution of their sins, was the moment they were putting the bitter past behind them. The tears ran on, held back by years of exile from each other, in seeing once promising futures evaporate in bouts of loneliness, drunken stupors, random sex, and in striking out blindly at the Universe. It was a wonder that they tears didn't last for the twenty years it had taken for them to fall.

Fortunately for them, T'Pel was away at the market. She had gone to the market so the two woman could share some time along, knowing they needed it. She had anticipated that Kathryn and Seven needed something like this to occur. T'Pel did not share human emotions, but she understood them, and understood the human need to show them.

Twenty minutes later, the two women were cried out, trying to recover their composure, but still clinging to each other, needing the simple bond of their shared, and separate experiences that had led them here.

They finally broke the long embrace, both of them looking at one another mottled, tear-stained faces, the sight making them laugh for a few moments, thinking of what a sight they would be if others were to glimpse at them right at that moment.

“Kathryn”, Seven said softly, still holding her hand, “you have nothing to apologize for any longer. You never did. I was just as much at fault for or estrangement. Now we simply have to look ahead to the time we have left.”

“Oh, if it were that easy, Seven of Nine”, Kathryn said with a shaky laugh. “It's always going to be there, in the corners of our minds, my dear, no matter how far ahead of us we try to look. It has defined who we are.”

“I've been so ashamed of what I did just before you found me. Maybe you believe, after what we saw, that I had some justification, but if I had had you in my life...” She paused, almost losing her composure once more, “I'm certain that I'd never have taken that path.”

“I imagine if we had remained close, I wouldn't have gone on alcohol and sex binges in Cuba. But again, we can't change that past. Somehow, we have to remember it, not repeated it, and become stronger for it.”

Seven leaned in toward Kathryn. “I am stronger now. You had to grab me, kicking and screaming-and by using some trickery”, she chuckled, thinking of the ruse that allowed the _Phantom_ to ensnare her. “But I think, once again, you've saved me, Kathryn. I was on a path of destroying myself. Thank you.”

Kathryn shook her head. “I think we saved each other. I was simply withering away in Indiana-much as I love it there-having given up on trying to make a difference.”

“You still have to fulfill your promise to take me to Bloomington, you realize that?”

Janeway gave a full, hearty laugh, warming Seven's heart. “I do, don't I?” They laughed together for a moment. Kathryn stilled and became serious. “You know, I hated you for so long, Seven? Even though you did nothing to deserve that hate, I blamed you for my short-comings. Yet, for all that...”, she cupped Seven's face in her hands, “I never stopped loving you.”

Soft tears ran down both their cheeks, an understanding finally coming between them.

“I felt the same way, Kathryn”, Seven said with some agony. “When Chakotay died, I treated you so badly, and it wasn't your fault. But I've always loved you-more than anything in this Universe.”

By mutual assent, they came together, softly, for the first time, they kissed each other, the joy of life coming alive in both of them. They had survived, despite their best efforts to destroy themselves. They realized, finally, that, together, nothing could beat them.

To Be Continued....


End file.
